At least, that’s what I’m predicting will happen after churches learn that a Tyson Foods poultry processing plant will no longer have a paid day off on Labor Day but will instead be granted the Muslim holiday Eid al-Fitr.

The change was part of a new five-year union contract at this single plant, which employees about 1,200 people, about 700 of whom are Muslim. That’s a little more than 58% of employees at this particular plant.

There have been no other major changes in the company’s holiday plan, a spokesman says. There were eight holidays before the switch and there are now eight holidays after the switch. Labor Day, which Congress made a federal holiday in 1894, was designed to celebrate the strength and spirit of labor and trade organizations. It is traditionally celebrated on the first Monday in September.

Eid al-Fitr, marks the end of the Muslim holy month of fasting, Ramadan. This year, Eid al-Fitr falls on October 1st.

The contract also calls for the construction of a special prayer room for the Muslim workers. A former employee who identified himself as being a Christian complained that if Christians at the plant want to pray, they have no special room to go to. A company spokesman says Christian employees have never demanded one.

I can imagine Christians everywhere ready to protest, ready to call for boycotts of chicken, long a staple for traditional Sunday meals, (although far from the only option).

I’m a Christian, and here’s my response: I’m still going to eat chicken. Hopefully more often grilled than fried, to keep my cholesterol in check. But I hold no ill will toward Tyson.

Actually, it’s a good example of a problem too many Christians fail to consider: in America, the majority is supposed to rule. That’s pretty much what a Democracy means. In this case, the decision was the result of contract negotiations, but it was still a negotiation designed to benefit the majority of people involved.

There are a lot of people who would argue that if Muslims wanted to stay Muslim, they should have stayed where they were rather than coming to America. But because this is America, we’re all supposed to be guaranteed the same religious freedom, no matter what that particular religion happens to be.

You can’t demand that everyone should be “forced” to be a Christian and expect them to be faithful followers. You’ll recall from your history books that religious freedom was one of the reasons this country was founded to begin with.

As for the notion that Christians didn’t get their own prayer room, I’d suggest this: where does it say that Christians need a prayer room? I can pray any time. No one even has to know that I am praying. I don’t have to get on my knees and close my eyes, hands folded over my chest, just to talk to God. I talk to God often without doing any of that. Today, I did so in my office in between the crises typical in television.

Those Christian employees who are bothered by the majority of colleagues, it seems to me, should either transfer to another plant where Muslims aren’t in the majority, or stay there and try praying for those colleagues they’re having a problem with. Or at least respecting the other person’s views.

There are a lot of Christians who believe every Muslim is an American-hating terrorist. By this same logic, all Christians must be murderers, like those self-appointed Christian executioners who targeted doctors who performed abortions. We must also be rude, hate-filled, spiteful people who protest at funerals of soldiers while suggesting that our God, who we say is a God of love, really hates. We must also be adulterers and embezzlers, like several high-profile televangelists.

The sweeping generalizations cut both ways.