Hey, does anyone know if you can ask for religious absences in college for pagan holidays?
This is actually a huge topic of interest among the pagan circles I am, or have been a part of. Secular governments— by which I mean, governments which completely detach themselves from any sort of organized religion while allowing for spirituality to be maintained within private spheres—, should, in fact, allow for employees to state (not ask but state) the days when they won’t be working due to religious celebrations. Now, I’m no expert on politics. Especially not when it comes to governments that are hypocritical enough to allow Christian monuments inside parliaments, but go bonkers when the Satanic Temple wants to put a statue in a park. I’m also reminded of instances such as the pagan Panera employee who was shunned by her boss and coworker until she could no longer work and had to go to court to uphold her human right to spirituality. As of now, it seems paganism and the workplace don’t mix together at all, and it’s quite a pity. We owe this to lack of education on the topic of religious diversity. The system needs not only to fight against racial, ethnical and sexual discrimination, but also against religious discrimination. Paganism might not be as prominent as the world’s biggest faiths, but it’s still present, and it’s ever-growing. I don’t doubt that soon, the topic of pagan holidays will finally be brought to light in workplaces. Until then fellow heathens, we can keeping asking our bosses for seemingly random days off and be vague about the reason.
