One country, many faiths
We received this review for our Exaplan planner the other day:
Product: Exaplan
Rating: 1 stars
Review:
“I loved your planner until I started filling out my dates and saw Muslim holidays listed. I have nothing against another nationality/religion, but in all good conscience I can not keep this with so many Americans dying at the hands of radicals from this religion – I am returning the book, and if it is not taken back by the store there will be several returned as being unsaleable due to damages. Sorry, as an American made product you should be more sensitive to something so horrendous – the product is wonderful – the choice of content really very despicable.â€
Since these comments were submitted as a product review, I was unable to respond directly to this person. They did not include a name, town, or any contact information. However, if I could, this is what I would have told them…
Dear Customer,
Thank you for writing to us to express your views. We appreciate hearing from our customers whether they write or call to say we’re doing something wonderfully or awful. We pay attention to what each person has to say about our products or company.
As head of marketing, I was the executive who made the decision to include Muslim holidays in our planners. At the time of the change, only Jewish and Christian holidays appeared in our calendars. Given the changing demographics in the United States, especially in our urban areas, I decided to expand the list of holidays to include major Muslim, Buddhist and Hindu religious observances, and added additional Roman Catholic and Jewish holy days. We also included Chinese New Year and Cinco de Mayo, two holidays widely observed in the Chinese and Hispanic communities.
To date, I have received one other negative comment on the Muslim holidays; and one positive comment on including the Buddhist holidays.
While I understand your strong emotion surrounding all the Americans killed or wounded in the Iraqi conflict, and also victims of terrorism here at home, I cannot agree with your rationale to pull Muslim holidays from our date books because of the actions of some Islamic combatants overseas.
Muslim, Buddhist and Hindu holidays were added to our date books because an increasing number of American citizens and foreign nationals living, working or studying in our country belong to these faiths.
The Pew Research Center estimates the number of Muslims in the United States at 2.4 million. Of that number one-third are native born, the rest are immigrants. The native-born are mostly converts, many of whom are African-Americans.
Globalization, media, the internet and other influences have made us increasingly connected and sensitive to people beyond those we grew up knowing. Business people, parents, educators and others want to know all the major religious dates of their employees, students, and customers for scheduling meetings, travel, class work and testing, and other events and activities. Most people also appreciate being made aware of days important to friends, neighbors and extended family.
Finally, I relied on that old and honored American value: what is fair? What is fair, I believe, is to include everyone, rather than just one or two. I considered removing most religious references; but to do so would make a date book less meaningful and a much less useful tool for people who rely on it.
So I added holidays, hoping to make it a more useful tool for more people.
Sincerely,
Karen Doherty
Vice President, Marketing
March 30th, 2009 at 12:15 pm
Dear Ms. Doherty:
Thank you for your thoughtful response to this comment. I have used this calendar for years and was appalled to read Anonymous’ comment when I came to your website to get a refill.
Our country is founded on a rich and glorious history of religious and cultural tolerance and it is that history that makes me the flag-waving patriot that I am. I applaud your company for embracing our astounding diversity and providing a product that serves these diverse communities and, more importantly, educates those of us from different communities about the celebrations and observances that we would otherwise be unaware of.
Thank you, and please continue to expand the holidays you list in the calendar.
August 7th, 2009 at 9:03 am
America was founded on Christian beliefs. You might as well post satanic holidays as well if you are going to include Muslim holidays. I agree they should be removed! I certainly won’t be buying this calendar.
August 23rd, 2009 at 7:16 pm
Ms. Doherty,
Ignore the zealots. You did the right thing, and the majority of us appreciate your thought and attention.
December 2nd, 2009 at 1:59 am
Dear Ms. Doherty,
With the upcoming 2010 year, I have found myself searching for a suitable planner that will both organize my engagements and leave room for my idle list making and doodles. I have found that in the Space 24 planner and I was thankfully surprised to find all of the cultural holidays included in this calendar. As a recent college graduate, I have many friends from many different countries and practicing various religious faiths. I will also be a part of a non-profit organization working with people all over the world and I find it a strength to be reminded of different religious holidays to be accommodating to my friends and colleagues. This country was founded on the principles of being free from religious persecution, amongst many others, and it is very un-american to persecute others for reasons of which our founding fathers were against. I, for one, applaud this decision to keep all of these holidays included in the Quo Vadis planners.
With appreciation,
Raquel F.
January 19th, 2010 at 10:33 pm
Dear Ms. Doherty,
Thank you for this decision! I have been very discouraged to find people removing all religious references and have long thought it much better to just include more! I think most people in this country appreciate learning about others’ religions. Plus, you are not stating that you as a company hold to one religion or another. You are just providing useful information. It is very helpful. As far as some offended by Muslim holidays, while I am not a Muslim and do not agree with their beliefs, I respect them and have Muslim friends. I would like to point out that they are not all radical or violent! It is a misconception to think they are all out to attack Americans. The vast majority living here are here because they want to be here and appreciate this country’s values. They don’t want to attack us.
As for America being founded on Christian beliefs, as stated above, while some of the founding fathers were Christian, several were Deists. Jefferson had his own version of the Bible in which several books had been removed. They held to widely accepted Judeo-Christian values, but they were not all Christian and they specifically founded a country with separation of church and state. This has been taken out of context and come to mean freedom from religion, rather than freedom OF religion in many cases these days, but I am happy to see that this company has, I believe, followed the original intent of the founding fathers. I hope the government will do so as well, rather than trying to remove religious references.
Much appreciation,
Melissa
January 21st, 2010 at 3:28 pm
Ms. Doherty,
Your decision to include the Muslim holidays in the Quo Vadis calendars and your thoughtful response to the ignorant comment left by an anonymous contributor makes me think highly of the company you work for.
I cannot believe that in these modern times, and in a country that is founded foremost on FREEDOM FOR ALL, there still exist people who are so hateful and uninformed as to think Muslim holidays SHOULDN’T be included in the calendars. I am not coming from any religious leaning. Quite simply, Islam is one of the world’s major religions. Excluding Muslim holidays from your products would only further foster intolerance that the world does not need any more of.
Thank you for making the decisions that you do.
- Clarissa