Brussels, Belgium, Feb 7, 2011 / 23:13 pm
A European Union-published school calendar made a “regrettable omission” in excluding Christian religious holidays, the publisher announced. It has sent out corrections to all teachers who have ordered the edition.
“There was never an intention to discriminate against the Christian religion in this publication,” the European Commission’s Consumer Affairs department stated.
The European Commission and the EU Economic and Social Committee funded the distribution of 3,275,500 copies of the 2010/2011 Europa Diary, a school calendar for secondary school students to help them in homework. Its weekly pages include footnotes to teach students facts they might not know, including holidays of other religions.
The publisher said the omission of Christian holidays occurred in the footnotes. The calendar did include both Muslim and Jewish holidays.
The Christian Democratic Party in France called the omissions “unacceptable.” It filed a petition asking that the calendars not be distributed as printed but replaced with versions that include Christian holidays.
The 2011/2012 edition of the calendar will include the main public and religious holidays celebrated in each of the EU countries.
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