H&R address the War on Halloween. It turns out it’s not just fundamentalist Christians who oppose Halloween festivities, particularly in public schools.
I recollect that as schoolchildren, Halloween was an occasion for craft and art projects in which we got to include occult themes. I always liked to draw either a witch flying across a full moon on a broomstick or a jack o’ lantern. It never once occurred to me that there might really be witches or grown people who believed in them or that Halloween had any religious significance whatsoever. Accordingly, for me it had no such significance. It meant I got to dress up as a hobo or a vampire or a devil (one of my favorite costumes ever) and mooch candy off of our neighbors.
It still doesn’t signify anything as far as I am concerned. I don’t decorate my house, and we never get any trick or treaters now that we live in the boonies. I have not been to an adult Halloween party in eons. The main meaning for me is that I have to be extra careful driving home on October 31 so I don’t run down any neighbor kids.
As far as I am concerned, if you love Halloween, by all means go all out and enjoy it. If you hate Halloween, don’t observe it. I wouldn’t make anyone show insincere enthusiasm for the holiday, and I definitely wouldn’t prevent anyone from observing it any peaceful manner that they please. May the politically correct nannies and fun hating fundamentalists alike be confounded.
When does something count as “religious” for the purposes of the free exercise and establishment clauses? If a single person regards macaroni as a sacred item, can public schools be enjoined from having pupils glue macaroni to construction paper?
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