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[Insathius]

I watched Terry Pratchett's The Hogfather a couple of days ago; a fantasy film about a mystical world that celebrated something called "Hogswatch" and it got me thinking about our Christmas and Easter etc.

Is it right that, as a country, we force businesses to close on public holidays such as traditional Christian holidays? Isn't this country supposed to support many religious views? What do people that do not follow the teachings of Christianity think about the fact that the government still upholds these aged traditions?

My personal opinion is that we should abolish these public holidays such as Christmas, Easter and even Sundays where businesses close early. They are excuses for mass-commercialism and force people that do not believe in Christianity to, in a way, celebrate something that might offend them.

[Darkademic]

Isn't this country supposed to support many religious views?

If that were the case we would have public holidays for Hanukkah, Chinese New Year and Ramadan. I think that this country should not support any religious views; and therefore should have no "public" holidays. Obviously people should be allowed to celebrate whatever festivals they wish, and people should be able to respect and carry out their traditions if they want to, but I definitely agree that public holidays of any kind should not be enforced. If companies want to abide by these traditions as well and let employees have days off for such holidays then they should be allowed to do so, but if they choose not to, it is the responsibility of those employees to arrange the time off.