regarding my legislative bill - final draft submitted.

[EmperorNero]

update: I've decided to go with a bill to add a generic national holiday for all people of all religious beliefs (or people lacking a religious belief) instead of a bill to stop recognizing christmas as a national holiday.

I have to draft a very formal bill and guidelines are here:

Sponsoring Legislation

I haven't started my bill yet but after I'm done, I'll post it up so you guys can critique and point out any errors.

the bill is due tomorrow morning before school so I am sorta waist-high in dog doodoo.

so before I start on the draft, I need to know what kind of opposing arguments there will be on a bill to create a generic national holiday so add your own two cents.



EDIT: what day should the holiday be on? I'm picking November 3rd because it's my b-day for simplicity's sake...does anyone know if this day fall on any religious holiday?

 

[EmperorNero]

I was testing out the link and I got a popup IE window with a bunch of boxes and some readable text so IE is trying to decipher the word document. if this happens to you guys, just right click and choose "save as..." and make sure the extension is ".doc" not ".htm".


btw, for anybody who's confused, I am NOT a real senator/representative...this is a mock congress for a political club.

 

[EmperorNero]

here's the bill in its censored form (I edited out mine and my cosponsor's personal info):

-----------------------

A BILL TO ESTABLISH A GENERIC NATIONAL HOLIDAY FOR ALL RELIGIOUS BELIEFS


Sponsored by: Senator x from n High School
Representative y from n High School

Religion plays a dominant role in society. Religious beliefs (or lack thereof) are varied and diverse. The First Ammendment in the Bill of Rights promises invidividuals the right to practice their religious beliefs. The U.S. government claims to take a neutral stance on religions but yet it has certain bias towards Christianity. To bring equality and fairness to all of the underrepresented religions, a new generic religious national holiday should be established on the second Wednesday of October.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress Assembled, that:

Section 1: To institute a generic national holiday that provides everyone a day in which to celebrate their own religious beliefs regardless of what those beliefs may be.

Section 2: The second Wednesday of each October would be declared ?Day of Faith.?

Section 3: Businesses and public schools are obliged to honor this day or will face fines which will be decided by the state that the business or school resides in.


--------------

since a lot of you guys are very outspoken and critical people, tear this bill apart and tell me what's wrong with it and don't be afraid to add your own suggestions. and yes, I know "day of faith" sounds rediculous but that's the best one we could come up with...unless you have a better suggestion (please say you do!)?


also, the use of words and how it sounds (too wordy or too simple) is important too. I want to make the bill sound intelligent but not like we were trying too hard...so any suggestions on changing wordings?

 

[uncouth]

why 2nd Wednesday in Oct? Any special reason for this?

 

[EmperorNero]

as far as we know, no specific religious holidays fall on this day..and the "2nd wednesdays" because we wanted to make sure it is a weekday so ppl can definitely have school/work day off.


btw, my gf suggested that we really should change the name of that day since not everyone have faith...but I can't think of any good names that would apply to both theists/atheists/agnostics..help...*gives a pitiful look*

 

[Moonbeam]

Universal Day

 

[perry]

Stay home and get drunk off your arse day.

 

[Capn]

Well other than the fact that it won't be a celebrated religious holiday but instead a free day off, it sounds good. But I still want Christmas off.

 

[tgillitzr]

why a wednesday?

how about a monday or a friday so that a 3day weekend is involved?

 

[glenn1]

three minor changes i would make, otherwise i have no problems with your "bill"...

1. I would change the line in which you wrote, "The U.S. government claims to take a neutral stance on religions but yet it has certain bias towards Christianity". I would make it a more neutral statement that simply states facts rather than an opinion (whether or not that opinion is correct) that the government is biased in favor of Christianity. I don't think you need to even reference a religious group.

Try rewritting that line slightly - something to the effect of,

"Whereas the First Amendment states that 'Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,' and wishing to avoid the perception of favoring or disfavoring any particular system or systems of religious belief, it is hereby set forth that second Wednesday of each October be declared...."

2. I would change Section 3 to show that the government encourages businesses to recognize the holiday. I'm pretty sure that a law REQUIRING private entities, such as businesses, to recognize any holiday, would be declared unconstitutional, on the basis of the tenth and fourteenth Amendments. If you wished to put some "teeth" in the bill, you could stipulate that entities receiving public funds from the Treasury (i.e. public schools, etc.) would be obligated to recognize the day or face loss of those public funds. I don't think that there is any way, otherwise, of requiring a private entity who does not accept Federal funds, to recognize a Federal holiday. Note, there's no requirement for businesses to close for Christmas, but most do anyway, by choice.

3. There is no need for the word "generic" in your Section 1.

Apart from those three items, i don't see a problem (technically) with your bill. Whether or not it would ever actually pass, well..... that's another matter altogether. Good luck with your project.

 

[EmperorNero]

thank you all (well, most) for the very helpful tips, especially glenn1.
here's the second draft (I'll be leaving at 6:30am for school so then it will turn into a final draft if no one gives me some suggestion until then):

A BILL TO ESTABLISH A NATIONAL HOLIDAY FOR ALL RELIGIOUS BELIEFS


Sponsored by: Senator x from n High School
Representative y from n High School


Religion plays a dominant role in society. Religious beliefs, or lack thereof, are varied and diverse. Whereas the First Amendment of the Bill of Rights promises individuals the right to practice their religious beliefs, and wishing to avoid the perception of favoring or disfavoring any particular system or systems of religion, it is hereby set forth that a day to bring equal opportunity to both major and underrepresented religions alike be established as a religious national holiday.


Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress Assembled, that:


Section 1: To institute a national holiday that provides everyone a day in which to celebrate their own religious beliefs regardless of what those beliefs may be.

Section 2: The second Friday of each October would be declared ?Universal Religion Day.?

Section 3: Any public institutions receiving funds from the U.S. Treasury (e.g. public schools, etc) are obligated to honor Universal Religion Day or shall face loss of those funds which is to be determined by the state that the institution resides in. Private entities (e.g. businesses) are encouraged to recognize this holiday.

 

[Don Vito Corleone]

It seems to me that even though this bill is neutral as to any particular faith, it arguably runs afoul of the Establishment Clause as it effectively mandates "faith". Not to mention that as a practical matter it would not be embraced by a member of any faith, as the existence of "Faith Day" would by no means prevent a Jew from celebrating Rosh Hoshannah or a Christian from celebrating Easter, for example.

 

[fdiskboy]

Why not call it atheist day and get it over with?

As noted above, all other major religions have their holy days.

 

[EmperorNero]

I did specify that it's a day for everybody "regardless of their religious beliefs" which also applies to atheists/agnostics.

btw, I'll be presenting the bill in washington dc in february 21 or so...so it'll be quite a while.

 

[Preyhunter]

I would also suggest that it be a Monday or a Friday, it would likely be more acceptable than interrupting normal business during the middle of the week. Also, run spell check on it.

 

[piku]

The whole point of a holiday is to celebrate animportant event in history.

Just making one up defeats the entire purpose.

 

[Dedpuhl]

The whole point of a holiday is to celebrate animportant event in history

and who is to say that Christmas is important?


"If 50 million people believe a foolish thing, it is still a foolish thing"
........Anatole France