German Petition for Atheist Bank Holiday

F.A.

The Giordano-Bruno-Foundation in Germany has today started a petition to replace the Christian bank holiday of the Ascension of Jesus (German: Himmelfahrt) with "E-Day", i.e., Evolution Day. Here is a link, though the webpage is in German: http://www.darwin-jahr.de/e-day

Four arguments are given (I'm giving a rough translation, not commenting):

1) The original holiday is one of the nine federal bank holidays. Replacing it would allow for E-day to also be a federal bank holiday.*
2) German families traditionally use Ascension Day for trips to the countryside, making it a perfect day to celebrate evolution.
3) Even the majority of German Christians apparently do not believe in an actual ascension of Jesus to "heaven". It is therefore reasonable to replace an overcome myth with a bank holiday to celebrate something the majority of Germans can relate to.
4) There are now more undenominational people than there are Protestants or Catholics in Germany. It seems only fair to give this third of the population their share of bank holidays. The situation is far from it, however, and replacing Ascension Day with E-day would finally signal that the German state does not only respect Christians and their holidays, but also the millions of citizens with decidedly secular outlooks.

A YouTube-video was produced to promote the petition:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wbIa9fZuTFA

*Note: there are several bank holidays in Germany that are only celebrated in a few of its federal countries, and adding/cutting such bank holidays has been the cause of heated debates in the past. This argument is obviously aimed at another potential discussion like this.

Anyway, I thought this might be interesting for you guys. Personally, while I think that traditions are a good thing, I like them to refer to something I can identify with. Christians obviously felt the same way with regard to Christmas a few centuries ago, so to now replace a Christian holiday with something more meaningful to the majority of the people it concerns only seems appropriate. Being German, I've signed.

Thoughts?

Fanny Cradock

I think it's odd.

Evolution is not an 'atheistic belief', nor is an anathema to Christianity - both Catholic and Protestant traditions official endorse it or let their members decide amongst themselves.

Other than having a day that declares the a non-belief in God(s), atheism has nothing else to say.

Fanny Cradock

I should add that if Germans do decide to ditch Assertion Day then so be it. It's their holiday after all. However, replacing it with E-Day should not be seen as replacing it with an atheist holiday. Attempts to label it as such are unwarranted.

robindch

Fanny Cradock wrote: »

I should add that if Germans do decide to ditch Assertion Day then so be it.

Almost as good a name for it as himmelfahrt.

Overblood

robindch wrote: »

Almost as good a name for it as himmelfahrt.

What does "fahrt" translate to?!

robindch

Overblood wrote: »

What does "fahrt" translate to?!

Something near journey or route.

F.A.

Yip, robindch is right. And yes, it is pronounced like flatulence (the less polite version).

Fanny Cradock

robindch wrote: »

Almost as good a name for it as himmelfahrt.

Whoops!

Valmont

just one more step towards Athiesm becoming an established religion.

Dades

One more misguided step.

Rev Hellfire

I nominate Dades as pope of the new athiest religion.

Zillah

I'd just like to reiterate that calling it evolution day is retarded.

Dades

Rev Hellfire wrote: »

I nominate Dades as pope of the new athiest religion.

I totally want those red shoes!

F.A.

Zillah wrote: »

I'd just like to reiterate that calling it evolution day is retarded.

As opposed to calling it "Ascension Day"?? :rolleyes:

Fact of the matter is, there are a several bank holidays in Germany that make no sense to a lot of Germans as they cannot identify with what the day is supposed to stand for. The meaning of Ascension Day seems to be the one that even many German Christians find a little hard to swallow. So taking it away makes sense. Why have a day in memory of something people think is a bit of joke? E-day, on the other hand, could serve to celebrate and encourage independant thinking and studying, even against the mainstream, something I cannot find in any Christian bank holidays.

As for it not being atheist per se, well, I suppose the title of the thread wasn't perfect. However, when you actually read the topic, it states quite clearly that Christians' opinions are well covered too. I chose the title because "anti-religious-dogma"-day seemed too sensationalist and I wanted to make it clear that the idea behind it is, indeed, to mark a formerly distinct Christian holiday as a non-religious holiday. It's not just what e-day would stand for, but also about what it replaces. Taking both things into account, atheist sounds about right to me, but I understand where you're coming from.

tricky D

Valmont wrote: »

just one more step towards Athiesm becoming an established religion.

Careful now! That could make german athiests liable to religion tax.

F.A.

tricky D wrote: »

Careful now! That could make german athiests liable to religion tax.

I suppose you refer to church tax (on average 3% of your gross income) as there is no such thing as religious tax in Germany. Well, if you're unemployed in Germany, it doesn't really matter if you're in either of the two churches, you have to pay regardless (though the matter is not quite as simple as that) of whether or not you are an atheist. Fun fact: if any of you Irish atheists want to work in Germany, you can only avoid paying church tax if you're not babtised or if you have officially left the church...

DapperGent

Personally I'm sick of evolutionists stealing gravity's spotlight. My fellow gravitationists and I demand a day of recognition.

Zillah

F.A. wrote: »

As opposed to calling it "Ascension Day"?? :rolleyes:

The fact that the previous tradition is retarded does not justify establishing a new retarded tradition. :rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes:

God I hate that emote.