Good Friday still good to go

Mary Melchionne says she refuses to be intimidated by a national legal group that is trying to take religion out of America.

The member of the Yuma Union High School District Board said it's time to take a stand. "The ACLU won't stop here," she said at the regular board meeting Wednesday afternoon. "The next thing you know, they will be coming in here trying to take Christmas away from us."

But, thanks to a 5-0 vote, Good Friday will still be Good Friday come April 9 next year for students and teachers in the district, now that the board has voted to turn down a request by the American Civil Liberties Union of Arizona to change the name to Spring Day.

Board President Robert Spencer received a letter in June from the state branch of the ACLU in Tucson saying that concerned citizens in the district had complained that Good Friday was listed as an official holiday. The ACLU chose not to release the names of the locals involved.

"We hope that (the board) will consider the suggestion in planning next year's calendar and that this issue may be resolved without litigation," Pamela Sutherland of the ACLU, said in the letter.

When contacted Wednesday afternoon, Sutherland said that she hoped the board would vote to make the change, but said the ACLU would not shy away from filing a suit. "As a citizen of Arizona, I would hate to see a suit filed against the district because it would cost all of us taxpayers money.

"But, we would definitely have to study the chance of a suit if the board decides not to make the change because courts throughout the country have found that the holiday is unconstitutional when it is observed for primarily religious reasons," she said.

The ACLU claims the holiday violates the First Amendment, which states that "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion."

Headington had recommended that the board make the change asked for by the ACLU. "I think this is an administrative oversight and should have been changed last year," Headington said. "The (Arizona School Board Association) has also recommended that all districts change Good Friday on the schedule to Spring Day."

But the board would have no part of Headington's suggestion. "I personally feel this is a blatant attempt to blackmail this board and I refuse to go along with it," said board member Betty Oppenheimer. "When the Congress of the United States opens without a chaplain or a prayer and the President of the United States does not take his oath of office with his hand on a Bible, then I might reconsider my position to the people who have elected me."

Oppenheimer said she was a journalist in the ’60s when she had a running "gun fight" with atheist leader Madeline Murray O'Hare. "I had a weekly paper and O'Hare called and threatened to sue me because I was informing my readers about what she was up to," she said. "I told her to go ahead and sue me.

"I gave her the name of my publisher. She said I was bad-mouthing her in my paper. After I told her that, I never heard from her again and I never got sued. I think that is what will happen with the ACLU here," Oppenheimer said.

Glenda Williamson said that other districts in the area still have Good Friday on the schedule. "I went by Yuma District 1 today and got a schedule and they still have the same day listed and call it Good Friday. I think the ACLU is just picking on us because they think we will buckle," she said.

But the board did not buckle under and will most likely hear from the ACLU soon.

"We hate to do it, but it might have to be done," Sutherland said Wednesday afternoon, before the board made its decision.

"We hate to do it, but it might have to be done," Sutherland said Wednesday afternoon, before the board made its decision.

Here we have a small school district that chooses to call a holiday Good Friday instead of Spring Day. Would the ACLU object to a day called Good Wednesday? How about Stormy Monday? Would Black Friday be considered a tribute or a racist statement?

The ACLU is attacking a holiday because they perceive a religious connection. If they were Buddhist, Good Friday would have the same meaning as Good Morning. The people defining Good Friday as a Religious Holiday are the ACLU, not the school district. From this article, it appears the school district is not requiring the students to acknowledge the Sacrifice and Death of Christ. Prayers, moments of silence -- none of these are evident.

So how can the ACLU argue that calling a day off Good Friday is, in any way, supporting religion? In order to make this assumption, you have to first assume that the intent of the school district is to honor Christianity.

It will be interesting to see what happens in court. Will the phrase Good Friday be, essentially, copyrighted by the Christians to mean The Day Christ Died?

I think its a bit of a stretch to assume that using the term Good Friday endorses a religion, but I guess we'll soon find out.

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