Islamic holidays at school
Extensive controversy has been stirred by the fact that in a school attended by many children from Islamic families, the day of Eid al-Fitr (the feast of breaking the fast), which marks the end of Ramadan, was granted as a holiday. However, criticism has mainly been based on the fact that such a holiday would not be allowed according to laws and regulations. Now, it is true that laws and regulations are important in social life; however, the problem should be addressed from a political and social standpoint: in cases where laws are incompatible with the constitution, but I would say especially with common sentiment, they should then be modified. Since this is one of the many cases where the issue of Islamic requests to take their religion into account arises, it seems to me that this is the problem to be addressed and not to get bogged down in the endless complexities of laws and regulations.
Our Constitution, like all modern ones, enshrines religious freedom: everyone is free to follow any religion or profess atheism, and this should not be a source of discrimination. Obviously, for events in public places, authorizations are required, but these should not be denied without reason: this applies to any event, not just religious ones; just as Catholic processions are not prohibited, so too should those of other religions be allowed. Catholic religious holidays such as Sunday or other religious celebrations (Christmas, Easter) are obviously considered public holidays regardless of religious beliefs because they are now part of our national traditions. Even non-believers celebrate Christmas and Easter. Non-Catholic religious holidays concern only a more or less small number of residents and are not part of national traditions (no one who is not Muslim celebrates Muslim holidays) and therefore cannot become national holidays. However, they should be calibrated and granted according to circumstances. It would be absurd to grant holidays for a Muslim holiday in a school where there are no Muslim students and only a few. Just as we cannot declare Friday or Saturday a holiday as is the case in Muslim countries or in Israel.
But in particular circumstances like the one being discussed, where there is a significant number of Muslims, nothing should prevent the granting of a holiday. The problem, as we said, needs to be framed within the broader issue of granting Muslims public spaces, the possibility of building mosques and Islamic schools. Significant is the fact that the Catholic Church is not opposed, accepting and promoting religious freedom.
Those who oppose, on the other hand, are those who see in the Catholic religion not just a religious faith but an aspect of national identity. Undoubtedly, our tradition is Christian, and as the atheist Croce said, we cannot deny being Christians. But I think that our modern national identity is also that of not discriminating between believers and non-believers, and between various religions. If there are still certain religious intolerances, our democracy appears rather limited; however, I believe these are minorities. Minorities always exist; the country is overall democratic and tolerant. The point I would like to emphasize is that it is contradictory to consider oneself Italian and be intolerant because our modern culture is oriented towards freedom and religious tolerance, rightly considered as the first and matrix of every other freedom. It is true that in the formation of our modern consciousness there are moments of intolerance: in the French Revolution, as well as in positivism and communism; however, the direction of the Western world has always been towards tolerance.
Currently, religious intolerance is considered outdated: the guillotine for refractory priests, the positivist fight against religions, and the persecutions of communist regimes are bad memories of the past. We are Italians, Westerners, but of the 21st century, and therefore culturally democratic and above all enthusiasts of freedom of conscience and opinion. Western culture has been secular for a long time now, after all, it is what distinguishes us from other cultures (for example, Islam). "Secular" is different from "secularist". A secular state means that one can be a believer or not and, in the former case, follow one's own religion. If religions are prohibited, we are in a confessional state, which is not only one that admits only one religion but also one that imposes a state atheism (Soviet communism, for example).