- Joined
- Aug 1, 2014
- Messages
- 26,719
- Reaction score
- 6,278
- Location
- California
- Gender
- Male
- Political Leaning
- Other
"Why shouldn't one consider a Muslim holiday in parts of the country where many Muslims live?" The suggestion by conservative Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere has sparked a fundamental debate in Germany. De Maiziere's proposal quickly turned into a political issue within his own Christian Democratic Union (CDU). The interior minister has latched onto a hot topic that comes on the heels of a debate over whether the CDU lost votes in Germany's recent national election because it abandoned much of its conservative profile.
Holidays have a long tradition in Germany, said Lower Saxony's CDU party chairman, Bernd Althusmann, who immediately criticized the interior minister's proposal.
Althusmann says he fails to see the necessity of changing Germany's long-standing holiday calendar.
In reality, there are already a number of legally regulated Muslim holidays taking place in Germany at the state level. Muslim students in Berlin, Hamburg and Bremen have the right to take a day off. And employees are also afforded the opportunity to go to mosque or pray on the job. In Berlin that right is guaranteed during Ramadan and Eid al-Adha (Sacrifice Feast). Hamburg and Bremen also include Ashoura (Day of Remembrance).
Holidays in Germany are mainly regulated at the state level. There are nine legal holidays across the country, but only one, the Day of German Unity (Oct. 3), is federally mandated.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news...d-germany-soon-have-muslim-holiday/764705001/
I'm quite pleased that the CDU continues to blunder and give ground to AfD. Germany is a mostly secular country, where old religious fervor has mostly fizzled out and given way to dull secularism. Creating new regional holidays in Islam's honor sends the message that Germany has left it's past faith, and is now being susceptible to Islam gaining power.
AfD Now, AfD Tomorrow, & AfD Forever.