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The Church/State Dilemma Gets Ridiculous
Here’s an interesting legal story about an issue that seems all too pervasive in our school systems today: The church/state quandary. The parents of a 10-year year old kid out in Philly are suing their school district because he wasn’t allowed to wear a Jesus costume on Halloween. The suit was filed by a Christian legal group, the Alliance Defense Fund, alleging the boy’s free speech and religious rights were violated.
Personally, I think it’s a bit presumptuous for a 10-year-old to dress as the Son of God in order to collect candy (isn’t that, itself, blasphemous?), but I’m not so sure the school has a clear understanding of the establishment clause here. What about the numbers of children who dress as a little Devil, a nun, or a priest? How different is that situation? If a kid wants to dress as Jesus — unless he’s handing out Gideon Bibles — he’s not really promoting religion any more than the child dressing as King Burger is promoting the idea that Burger King’s Whoppers are delicious. We allow “In God We Trust,” to exist on our currency and we force our children to Pledge Allegiance to a nation under God, so I’m not sure how much more offensive this is. What’s more, by forcing a lawsuit here, the school is basically giving Christians a platform upon which to publicize their cause.
How bad would it have been, really, to allow the little guy to adorn a crown of thorns and traipse around the school’s hallways for a day, begging for Snickers? At most, he’s an embarrassment to himself and, perhaps, his own religion; but unless the Jewish kid in class is suddenly inspired by Mel Gibon’s The Passion of Christ and attempts to crucify him, it seems otherwise harmless, which is more than I can say for the school’s actions.
