Christianity has influenced Australian culture immensely and is the religion that most Australians belong to. In fact, Christmas and Easter are considered to be major national holidays. However, "the population with a religion other than Christianity hovers around 5 and 6 percent." The country of Australia is slowly becoming like the United States and America. Many different religions living together in one area of land. Australia has been "creeping towards the American custom" of saying "Happy Holidays" so as to not offend anyone. Although, because of the many different religions coming together, saying "Happy Holidays" is not necessarily a bad thing because many religions have a holiday around Christian's observance of Christmas. Easter, however, is more of a religious observance than Christmas. Good Friday, Easter, and Christmas, just like here in the United States, are considered paid holidays, even though Christianity is not considered the state's religion.
I do understand that followers of religions outside of Christianity would argue that this is unfair and unjust. But the fact of the matter is this, Australia and the United States can, and will, keep these three Christian Holy Day's as paid holidays. It is entirely up to each individual nation to decide what can and can not be considered paid holidays.
Works Cited
Frame, Tom. "The future of Easter in a secular society." Quadrant Mar. 2008:68+. Literature Resource Center. Web. 8 Feb. 2010.
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However, many followers of Christianity have taken to much advantage of Easter. Some Christians have used Easter the same way they use Christmas, another excuse to spoil your family and friends This is not the purpose of either of these holidays. Yes, Christians should be thankful for what Jesus Christ sacrificed so that his followers could have better lives and should be proud of this. But where is the line drawn in the sand between being thankful and losing sight of why these holidays are celebrated? As children, we are naive and think of these holidays of a time of the year to receive presents and candy, but at the same time are told about the importance, however, the presents and candy receive more emphasis. The question is always, "What would you like for Christmas?" and not "Why do we celebrate Christmas?"
ReplyDeleteI found this post to be very interesting. Especially in the last part that is in the comment part, we have come to a time where we no longer think about why we are doing something and we just do it. The fact is that more emphasis should be placed on why we are celebrating these holidays and why they care considered to be "paid" holidays. Even though so many people are just looking forward to having the day off, and getting paid for it. In all reality, these holidays are "paid" holidays because they are a time to look back and think about why they are important. More people should think outside the box and stop thinking about their wallet all the time.
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