Dressing like Jesus is Not Allowed

Apparently back in Halloween of 2006, a young 10-year old boy in Pennsylvania wanted to wear a Jesus costume for the school's Halloween parade but was told he wasn't allowed. The principal of the elementary school in Abington Township told the boy that he could only wear the robe from his costume and say he was a Roman soldier. The complete costume included a white robe and a paper and twig crown of thorns. The boy had apparently told the principal that he wanted to wear the costume to show his belief in Christianity, as well as his opposition to the Pagan beliefs of Halloween.

So in the end, the 10-year old boy was told to change his costume but didn't like the fact that other children were allowed to dress as devils and goblins. Of course, this ended up sparking a federal lawsuit against the school system in the area. Along with the lawsuit, complaints from organizations on both sides of the fence began to grow.

"They explicitly discriminated against Christianity," said Matt Bowman, the attorney representing the boy, as well as a representative for the Alliance Defense Fund. "They attacked the right to free religious exercise. And they gave unbridled discretion to school officials to suppress free speech," Bowman stated. "Each of these has a long pedigree of Supreme Court cases that prohibit what the school officials did."

The First Amendment Center, based out of Virginia, began to comment on the opposite side of the story. "Schools have long had the right to ban 'hateful or violent' costumes but must tread lightly when it comes to religious expression," said Charles Haynes, director of education programs for the First Amendment Center.

The lawyer for the school district said, "When Patricia Whitmire, the principal at Willow Hill Elementary, raised questions, the boy and his mother agreed that he would not wear the crown and would portray himself as a contemporary of Jesus."

According to Ken Roos, the solicitor for the Abington school district, the child's mother, Donna Brewer, seemed okay with the solution and didn't ask to take the situation to the superintendent. Bowman, the attorney for the child, stated that Ms. Brewer has said that she never agreed to the solution that had been offered. "Even to suggest it reflects hostility to Christianity," Bowman said. "There is no other reason to suggest that the child remove the crown except to say that Jesus is banned from our school."

Part of the lawsuit states that Ms. Brewer asked about the policy on Halloween costume restrictions, and was told that they had a 'general policy against advocating religion'. Mr. Roos stated that Ms. Brewer was advised on how to obtain the district's policy on religion, but never follow through. "Neither she nor the Alliance Defense Fund contacted the district after that," Mr. Roos said, "except to file the lawsuit."

"Public schools have the authority to prohibit students from wearing costumes that are hateful or violent," said Mr. Haynes, "but a school allowing a variety of costumes cannot discriminate because they don't like a religious one. They can't censor a religious viewpoint." Mr. Haynes went on to say "A lot of school districts have said there is no place at all for religion in the schools; that's wrong. While school officials should not promote or denigrate religion, they can teach about it. And students have the right to express their religious beliefs. That can't be denied them."

The case and entire situation has started a rather large debate on Philly.com and has inspired many bloggers and talk shows to talk about the controversial subject as well.

*Sources*
-Philadelphia Inquirer Online. URL: http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/16762665.htm. Dan Hardy. (2007 Feb 23).