On 22/03/2008, John Clegg <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> It is just a nuisance we all have to deal with.
Doesn't bother me much.
> and not worry too
> much about the opinion of the churches, who really have little more of
> significance to say on the matter than the rest of us.
The Government has the power to determine the dates of public
holidays, but it has no jurisdiction over the Christian church as a
whole. I don't know the legal technicalities, but I suppose it could
force the Church of England to fix the date of Easter. However this
would set the CofE apart from the rest of the Anglican Communion, the
Roman Catholic Church and indeed all Christians apart from the Eastern
Orthodox Church. I don't think that the Church of England would want
this, which is why the change has not been made.
There is no reason why the two bank holidays that currently abut the
Easter weekend could not be moved to the Sunday after the second
Saturday in April, but this would become the Long Bank Holiday Weekend
and not Easter. While the UK remains a nominally Christian country I
don't think the Government would want to do this. France, in which
there is formal division between the Church and State, still affixes
its bank holidays to the Christian calendar.
I think there would also be lobbying from the commercial sector who
would find it hard to market products linked with eggs and fluffy
bunnies if the Long Bank Holiday Weekend were not Easter, and
conversely Easter were just an ordinary weekend.
I should like to wish all list members either joy in the risen Lord,
or happy contemplation of fluffy bunnies, according to their
sensibilities. :-)
Mike
--
Michael Leuty
Nottingham, UK
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