Tuesday, November 01, 2005

Any "Witch" Way But Loose

The Connecticut Post reports on a Wiccan priestess and her legal battle, over being terminated by her employer, for using unpaid leave to observe pagan holidays such as the Celtic New Year -- also known as "Samhain," not to mention "Halloween."

To devout Catholics, it all sounds perfectly dreadful -- the idea that, in a Judeo-Christian society, we should have to dignify an individual's indulgence of a religious holiday other than our own, especially one that passes itself off as a pre-Christian nature worship, but is actually a late 19th century fabrication. What is often forgotten is, the same law that is used on the Wiccan priestess, can also be applied to Catholics who want unpaid holidays for their holydays. I am able to get paid annual leave for "pre-Lenten religious observances" -- otherwise known as Mardi Gras. But I wonder how many stalwarts of orthodoxy would have walked into the boss's office to ask for the day after Halloween off.

Because, strictly speaking, the traditional proscription against "unnecessary servile labor" applies equally to All Saints Day, as to any given Sunday.

Just wondering.

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