Is America entering a post-Christian phase? Hard though it may be to believe given the relative strength of the Church there, it was a repeated theme of evangelicals who got behind Donald Trump in his campaign for the White House. Now – leaving behind such causes as gay marriage and transgender bathrooms – they have ammunition in the form of a city that has decided to do away with Good Friday.
Bloomington, Indiana, which prides itself on its "cultural sensitivity in the workplace", has decided to rename two traditional holidays. Columbus Day will become 'Fall Holiday' and Good Friday will become 'Spring Holiday'. According to the mayor, John Hamilton: "We are terrifically proud of our diverse workforce at the city. That diversity makes us stronger and more representative of the public we proudly serve.
"These updated names for two days of well-merited time off is another way we can demonstrate our commitment to inclusivity."
You have got to be kidding me.
No, this is really true.
This is political correctness gone mad. They want to get rid of Columbus Day?
Ah, wait now. There are excellent reasons for getting rid of Columbus Day, which in most US states celebrates the arrival of Christopher Columbus in the Americas on October 12, 1492. While his arrival was good news for land-hungry Europeans it was a disaster for the native population who were enslaved, terrorised or just exterminated. Columbus himself was personally responsible for enslavement, mutilations and murders.
So not such great news for America, then?
Let's say it's increasingly embarrassing as people face up to the past.
Well, what about banning Good Friday?
There's absolutely no excuse and no defence for it.
Really? You are usually so restrained.
Not when I am dealing with such ill-informed, misguided nonsense that thinks it's being terribly liberal when it's just being stupid.
Tell me more.
Deciding not to celebrate Columbus Day is one thing; he was a very bad man. But refusing to mark Good Friday is a different thing altogether. Jesus' followers have been guilty of some pretty terrible things, but no one has ever had a bad word to say about him. Good Friday is the most sacred day of the Christian year. Trying to write it out of public life is insulting and religiously illiterate.
Let me push back a bit. America is a secular state, why should it observe a religious holiday?
Its foundation as a secular state is a very good thing, because it means all religions can have equal status. But that doesn't mean removing religion from the public sphere altogether. It means you don't privilege one faith above another. So if a state wanted to grant a public holiday for Eid or Diwali, for instance, it would have every right to do so. Removing Good Friday isn't liberal or inclusive, it's an attack on liberalism and inclusivity.
Are they just scared of religion?
Who knows? But in modern liberal democracies many people are. They don't go to church and they don't know what happens inside them. They don't feel comfortable talking about religions because they don't know anything about it. They're suspicious of it, because they sense religious people march to the beat of a different drum. In the UK, the Archbishop of Canterbury has said the government has "no grip" on what it is to be religious. So they might well think the way to deal with it is to try to airbrush it out of public life.
But what if you live in Bloomington and you aren't religious?
Well, what if you live in Bloomington and you are religious? If you aren't a Christian, it's just a day with a particular label. Nobody's insulting you or trying to convert you or bothering you at all. No one is not including you, just enjoy the day off. But there are thousands of Christian people who are hopping mad because they are most definitely excluded.
The fair city of Bloomington is not more inclusive because it's done away with Good Friday. This is an epic fail for liberal democracy.
Follow Mark Woods on Twitter: @RevMarkWoods
