Dems Will Officially Celebrate Islamic Holiday That Includes

California just made Eid al-Adha an official state holiday, and the name alone should have made someone pause. This is the one about Abraham and the sacrifice. The one where observant families traditionally slaughter a sheep, goat, cow, or camel. That's the thing Gov. Newsom signed his name to. So now state employees get a paid day off for a religious festival that, in its most literal expression, is about butchering livestock. We're not being precious. We're just reading the statute.

The celebration of faith is not the problem. The problem is the state picking favorites. California decided Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha deserve holidays, but we all know Christmas and Good Friday are just sort of there. This isn't inclusivity. It's an effort to signal that the new California coalition matters more than the old one. Illinois did the same thing, so we know the pattern. Next they'll add days for every religious calendar in the world, paid for by taxpayers, enforced by payroll systems that cost millions to update.

A state holiday is the government's official stamp of approval. It tells everyone in California that this observance matters more than others. That's a strange position for a state that usually runs screaming from any public mention of religion. You get the sense they didn't think about what Eid al-Adha actually involves. They just saw a chance to beat Republicans over the head with a diversity badge and took it.

Maybe read the fine print before making ritual slaughter a paid day off. It's not our job to tell Muslims what their holy days mean. But it's Newsom's job to tell Californians why their calendar now revolves around a festival that even their own supporters might find awkward on closer inspection. There's a word for making policy on vibes alone. The state legislature just sent us a perfect example.