No exams on Wiccan, Pagan holidays at University of Missouri?

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I attended University of Missouri and I think this is just a guideline for the professors to consider when scheduling their exams. If a student cannot attend class on a specific day due to a religious obligation, they are allowed to have the exam rescheduled or take it with a different section of the same class. I know because one of the classes I was in was Opera Chorus and they scheduled the dress rehearsals on every day of the Easter Triduum! I had to go over the director’s head regarding my not being there on Saturday and Sunday. (I agreed to be there on Good Friday since I could go to Church in the morning and I agreed to be there until 7:15 on Holy Thursday, since Mass was two blocks away and at 7:30.) It caused a huge problem because lots of the other performers were volunteers and didn’t have to be there and refused to come. It was the director’s fault for ignoring the rest of the world when scheduling an opera. It was a dumb move. I think it is wise for the University to make professors aware of potential days where students are likely to not be able to take an exam and they will have to reschedule. A person really should know when Easter is, being that the vast majority of our country is Christian. However, many professors have no clue when Divali or Ramadaan take place and it’s practical to give them a heads up as they are the ones who will be responsible for seeing that the student gets another opportunity to take the exam.
 
Gary_Sheldrake said:
I agree. I just wonder if we should.perhaps pick one holiday from each religion. Otherwise there would be no school if we celebrated all of them.
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The school isn’t closed on those holidays. The classes are still taking place. However, students have a right to be dismissed from class without penalty if their religious obligation requires them to be elsewhere. It isn’t meant to be “getting the day off”. For example, Catholic students aren’t supposed to clear the whole day because of Ash Wenesday. However, if their first class happens at the same time as Mass, they can’t be penalized for being late or absent from that one class and the professor will have to give them the opportunity to make up an exam or in-class assignment. Often, this is easily done by the student taking the test with another section of the same class.
 
gnosisofthomas said:
I wonder why winter and spring vacations always coincide with Christmas and Easter… It must just be happenstance.
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Spring vacations almost never coincide with Easter in the University of Missouri system. If it does, it usually is because Easter is very early that year and it is happenstance. Christmas is a national holiday and the vast majority spend it with family and friends whether they believe in Christ or not.
 
Robert_in_SD said:
They don’t. At least not in my experience. They certainly used to, but not anymore. My kids go to public school in CA, and it has been years since their spring break coincided with holy week. Same is true for Christmas. It used to coincide with Christmas and New Year’s Day. This year, Christmas fell just before the break started. I think public school disricts are very careful not to have their holidays link up with the traditional Christian holidays every year, precisely because they do not want to find themselve defending an Establishment Clause claim.

Peace,
Robert
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Public schools in my state are penalized for poor attendance, something they have little control over. Therefore, they do their best to give the students the day off on days where they know it is likely they will have a large number of students missing. For this reason, our district always conveniently has a PD (staff only) day on Good Friday or a comp day for staff because of conferences.
 
PRmerger said:
Really? Do you believe that these religio-]/-]ns deserve “as much respect” as well?

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apologeticsindex.org/a97.html/QUOTE

I don’t know what anyone deserves, but they have my respect and love without regard to what they deserve or don’t deserve. I am charged with the task of loving others. Somehow in that process, the seem to get my respect as well. I am reasonably confident that this approach will be acceptable to Him that gave me the ability to reason such things.
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Gary_Sheldrake said:
PRmerger;10401349:
Really? Do you believe that these religio-]/-]ns deserve “as much respect” as well?

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apologeticsindex.org/a97.html

Whether or not one respects the beliefs of a person’s religion, one must respect their right to believe them. In other words, one is not required to respect any aspect of the Wiccan religion, however one must respect the rights of Wiccan students to attend whatever it is that they attend in observation of their religion without penalization. Frankly, I don’t see a change here. The policies at the University have not changed, only the advisory list of dates for professors to consider has gotten longer. Had a Wiccan student been asked to take an exam on a day they have religious observances before, they would have been granted the request to take it another day before this list came out. The university has a special room in a building designated for students to take exams on alternate days. The teacher just sends the test over to through intercampus mail and the student makes an appointment to take it by a certain date. It’s that easy.
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Gary_Sheldrake said:
I don’t know what anyone deserves, but they have my respect and love without regard to what they deserve or don’t deserve. I am charged with the task of loving others. Somehow in that process, the seem to get my respect as well. I am reasonably confident that this approach will be acceptable to Him that gave me the ability to reason such things.
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Amen to giving love and respect to all human beings!

However, the dialogue was about different* religions. *

Are you saying that we need to give respect to religions that say that “when a f*g dies, God laughs”?

Really?
 
PRmerger said:
Are you saying that we need to give respect to religions that say that “when a f*g dies, God laughs”?
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God hates figs. All Christians know that.

Mark 11:12-14

I am not sure about the laughing part, though. That seems to be a non-Biblical belief.
 
Allegra said:
Whether or not one respects the beliefs of a person’s religion, one must respect their right to believe them. In other words, one is not required to respect any aspect of the Wiccan religion, however one must respect the rights of Wiccan students to attend whatever it is that they attend in observation of their religion without penalization. Frankly, I don’t see a change here. The policies at the University have not changed, only the advisory list of dates for professors to consider has gotten longer. Had a Wiccan student been asked to take an exam on a day they have religious observances before, they would have been granted the request to take it another day before this list came out. The university has a special room in a building designated for students to take exams on alternate days. The teacher just sends the test over to through intercampus mail and the student makes an appointment to take it by a certain date. It’s that easy.
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I am looking at the bigger picture, Allegra. I am not specifically addressing Mizzou’s right to declare that students have a right to observe pagan holidays.

I am addressing Lisa’s comment that all religions deserve equal respect.

If this is true, then we need to give respect to religions that state that women are inferior to men, that people of color are going to hell, that homosexuals can be killed, that Satan is to be worshipped, that 67 year old men can marry 13 year old virgins…:eek:

If you are in agreement with the above, then we need to discuss this very wrong attitude about religion!
 
PRmerger said:
I am looking at the bigger picture, Allegra. I am not specifically addressing Mizzou’s right to declare that students have a right to observe pagan holidays.

I am addressing Lisa’s comment that all religions deserve equal respect.

If this is true, then we need to give respect to religions that state that women are inferior to men, that people of color are going to hell, that homosexuals can be killed, that Satan is to be worshipped, that 67 year old men can marry 13 year old virgins…:eek:

If you are in agreement with the above, then we need to discuss this very wrong attitude about religion!
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I think what Lisa may have meant was that all people of all religions deserve respect. Sometimes when people say “religion” what they are actually referring to the group of people that practice the religion and not the set of beliefs and practices associated with said religion. It’s not the best grammer but I bet that is what she meant.
 
PRmerger said:
Amen to giving love and respect to all human beings!

However, the dialogue was about different* religions. *

Are you saying that we need to give respect to religions that say that “when a f*g dies, God laughs”?

Really?
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Dear PR : the Westboro Baptist Church is a Christian denomination, not a Pagan one. We celebrate Christian festivals already. Moreover, having respect for the beliefs of another doesn 't imply agreement agreement with them. There are good many Americans who, based on a rather primitive interpretation of certain Old Testament stories, believe that God hates homosexuality. I don 't agree with them either, and the WB Church is only slightly off center from those people. I don 't believe that anyone will change the views of these people with reason. I also didn 't say thay “we need to respect” these religions. I

simply said that i respect them and respectfully disagree with them.
 
Allegra said:
I think what Lisa may have meant was that all people of all religions deserve respect.
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If that is what she meant then 👍

However, I don’t believe anyone here has been advocating showing disrespect to any people.

What has been proffered is the fact that some religions teach some really vile concepts, and as such, should not be given equal footing with Catholic Christianity.
 
Gary_Sheldrake said:
Dear PR : the Westboro Baptist Church is a Christian denomination, not a Pagan one.
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True, that. :yup:

Has anyone here been proclaiming that the Westboro Baptist Church is a pagan denomination? :confused:
Moreover, having respect for the beliefs of another doesn 't imply agreement agreement with them.
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If you can tell me that you respect the views of the Westboro Baptist Church, this will be my response:

http://s3-ec.buzzfed.com/static/enh...4/anigif_enhanced-buzz-8403-1361476000-14.gif
I also didn 't say thay “we need to respect” these religions. I simply said that i respect them and respectfully disagree with them.
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Excellent. Then you interjected yourself into a dialogue that wasn’t about respecting people. It was about the concept of equality of all religions, or religious syncretism, (which is a heresy).

My comment was to correct Lisa’s erroneous one here:
Lisa1967 said:
Wicca and Paganism are religions too and deserve as much respect as other religions.
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PRmerger said:
True, that. :yup:

Excellent. Then you interjected yourself into a dialogue that wasn’t about respecting people. It was about the concept of equality of all religions, or religious syncretism, (which is a heresy).

My comment was to correct Lisa’s erroneous one here:
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Dear PR: The context was that Lisa had said that we should respect other religions. I agreed with her. Insofar as equality of religions go, I believe that most people think that other people have beliefs, but only they themselves have the truth. But I’m not concerned with whether or not my religion is great or more valid than another. I’m only concerned with practicing what I believe to the very best of my ability, and those who do the same in the name of whatever it is they believe, I perceive to be on equal footing with me in the eyes of God.
 
Gary_Sheldrake said:
Dear PR: The context was that Lisa had said that we should respect other religions. I agreed with her. Insofar as equality of religions go, I believe that most people think that other people have beliefs, but only they themselves have the truth. But I’m not concerned with whether or not my religion is great or more valid than another. I’m only concerned with practicing what I believe to the very best of my ability, and those who do the same in the name of whatever it is they believe, I perceive to be on equal footing with me in the eyes of God.
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Well, if you can say that you have respect for a religion that teaches that people of color are destined for hell, then I will say that I have no respect for that view.
 
PRmerger said:
Well, if you can say that you have respect for a religion that teaches that people of color are destined for hell, then I will say that I have no respect for that view.
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Fair enough PR. Again, the fact that I have respect for the views of others doesn’t mean that I agree with those views. This also applies to your view that you have no respect for my view. I respect your view and I respect you. I also hope that over time on the forum (which I am new to), we can have some good dialogues while learning to love one another better through our Lord.
 
Gary_Sheldrake said:
Fair enough PR. Again, the fact that I have respect for the views of others doesn’t mean that I agree with those views.
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So, just to be clear. This is a possible conversation you could have:

Person A: I believe that Hitler was right to gas 6 million people! The Bible says that this is something that is God’s will!

Gary: I respect that view!

Really?
This also applies to your view that you have no respect for my view. I respect your view and I respect you. I also hope that over time on the forum (which I am new to), we can have some good dialogues while learning to love one another better through our Lord.
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Indeed.
 
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