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Boy Sent Home From School For Dressing As Jesus (For Halloween)
WCBS-TV ^ | October 31, 2008 | Sean Hennessey

Posted on 10/31/2008 9:52:25 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet

A Paramus middle school student was sent home Friday after he came to school dressed up as Jesus for Halloween.

For a few hours, Alex Woinski was the messiah of West Brook Middle School, but like the real Jesus, Woinski was condemned, so to speak.

"Sort of like a new remake of what supposedly happened," Woinski told CBS 2.

Decked out in sandals, a robe, fake beard and thorns, the 13-year-old joined 500 other students at his school's Halloween celebration, and on this day, he was the chosen one - to go home.

"It was offensive to some students," Woinski said, when asked what school officials told him the reason for being sent home was.

Woinski says he wore the costume because friends say his long hair makes him a Jesus lookalike, and were not offended by his costume.

The school says thes costume was a disruption and denies its religious nature had anything to do with it.

"I don't think I overreacted," Principal Joan Broe told CBS 2.

Broe said too many students were drawn to the costume, and that was reason enough.

"Children were [asking], where is the boy who is Jesus Christ?" she said. "It was disrupting the education process."

Woinski's parents agree it was political correctness gone amok.

"I think the whole freedom of speech and expression has definitely had a damper put on it, and this is proof of that," says Kim Woinski, Alex's mother.

But it won't put a damper on Woinski's trick or treating. This Jesus has been resurrected for Friday night.

Woinski has developed an interest in religion. His mother is Catholic and his father is Jewish. He recently celebrated his Bar Mitzvah and his also studying Bible scripture.

His school says this was the first time anyone had ever dressed up like Jesus. They say other students were ordered to alter their costumes because they were deemed inappropriate.


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Culture/Society; Extended News; News/Current Events; US: New Jersey
KEYWORDS: 1stamendment; alexwoinski; barmitzvah; bergencounty; catholic; christians; costume; discrimination; education; firstamendment; halloween; intolerant; jesus; jewish; multiculturalism; paramus; politicalcorrectness; religion; teachtolerance; tolerance
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This is like the preschooler disciplined for pointing a fishstick at a classmate. What nonsense! What if a Christian student had complained about a witch costume?
1 posted on 10/31/2008 9:52:27 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

This begs the question if the school would’ve similarly reacted had anyone dressed as Obama The Messiah?


2 posted on 10/31/2008 9:54:28 PM PDT by A_Former_Democrat
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Lucky for him he didn’t put a turban shaped like a bomb on his head and go as Mo-Hammed!

Some bearded freakshow would have issued a fat-wahhhh! and the boy’d be history!


3 posted on 10/31/2008 9:56:29 PM PDT by Redbob (W.W.J.B.D. - "What Would Jack Bauer Do?")
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

If he’d dressed as a terrorist or “tortured” prisoner, he’d have been praised for his creativity and “open mind”.


4 posted on 10/31/2008 9:56:48 PM PDT by Darkwolf377
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

As a Christian I am offended by Halloween. Every time I see a witch and think of all the animals, babies, and others that are sacrificed in gruesome ways on the devil’s alter on this unholy day it makes me want to cry. If people would realize that all that stuff isn’t just innocent fun they would not participate.


5 posted on 10/31/2008 9:58:04 PM PDT by Bellflower (A Brand New Day Is Coming!)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
Woinski has developed an interest in religion. His mother is Catholic and his father is Jewish. He recently celebrated his Bar Mitzvah and his also studying Bible scripture.

heh

6 posted on 10/31/2008 9:59:22 PM PDT by camerakid400
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

He shudda dressed like the Other Messiah


7 posted on 10/31/2008 9:59:25 PM PDT by bigbob
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
“I don't think I overreacted,” Principal Joan Broe told CBS 2.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

She overreacted.

And this is definitely another reason to homeschool. Do not expose your children to this nuttiness.

This principal just taught all the children in the school that Christianity is sooooo shameful that it must be hidden like some sort of bathroom activity. This isn't a religiously neutral lesson!

8 posted on 10/31/2008 9:59:52 PM PDT by wintertime (Good ideas win! Why? Because people are NOT stupid)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
Broe said too many students were drawn to the costume, and that was reason enough.

The madam is an idiot.....

9 posted on 10/31/2008 10:00:42 PM PDT by LaineyDee (Don't mess with Texas wimmen!)
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To: metmom
Definitely “Another Reason to Homeschool”!
10 posted on 10/31/2008 10:01:26 PM PDT by wintertime (Good ideas win! Why? Because people are NOT stupid)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

“It was offensive to some students,” Woinski said

Nice bit of political correctness conditioning for the kiddies.....

Speaking of witch costumes, last year (IIRC) a school did send home a “witch” on complaints...and of course the witch’s lunatic Leftard mother was on hand to gripe.

The real problem here is the PC indoctrination.


11 posted on 10/31/2008 10:01:28 PM PDT by Khepri (It's the audacity, stupid!)
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To: wintertime

It’s okay to dress up like the devil on halloween. Why not Jesus?


12 posted on 10/31/2008 10:03:46 PM PDT by smokingfrog ( God doesn't wear a wristwatch.)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

I think that c**t of a principal meant to say:

“Children were [asking], who is the man they call Jesus Christ?” she said. “Jesus Christ is disruptive to our re-education/indoctrination process.”


13 posted on 10/31/2008 10:09:38 PM PDT by Captainpaintball (The FIRST AMENDMENT is the FIRST refuge of a scoundrel!!!)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
Than why did you post it?
14 posted on 10/31/2008 10:10:27 PM PDT by sarasmom (McCain is in the tank for Obama.)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

If he would have dressed as the Grim Reaper or the Devil he would have won a prize... sad, but true.


15 posted on 10/31/2008 10:13:21 PM PDT by Trajan88 (www.bullittclub.com)
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To: sarasmom

Huh?


16 posted on 10/31/2008 10:14:28 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet (Barack Obama: In Error and arrogant -- he's errogant!)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

My son’s public school has “fall festival” every year. It’s put on by the PTA. I noticed one year that the list of events included “Fortune telling”. I went over and watched, and they had a woman with a crystal ball who would tell the kids things like “you will get an A in PE this year.”

I wrote the principal an email explaining the relation of fortune telling and Halloween to the occult and told her that I was sure that if the local Baptist church wanted to have a pastor sit there and tell the kids what God’s will for their lives was for the next year, that would not be allowed. I asked her to please refrain from including the fortune telling in the future.

Her reply was that they were not doing anything that was against district policy and so they would continue to have the fortune telling. Pathetic.


17 posted on 10/31/2008 10:15:24 PM PDT by RightFighter (That Sarah Palin. She's so hot right now!)
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To: Redbob

I think you’ve got it wrong. He would have been hauled up front, and used as a very nice representation of our dear friends the Muslims.

Who was this kid bothering? If a witch costume had been popular, the kid would have been praised as a person with a great sense of creativity.

This kid dresses up as Jesus, he’s wildly popular, and the teacher turns into Pontius Pilot. And now she’ll be trying to wash her hands of him. It won’t wash off that easy lady.

You are a poor excuse for a school leader, woman.


18 posted on 10/31/2008 10:15:50 PM PDT by DoughtyOne (Our nation is uncomfortably close to having B.O. We need to use a Republican roll on by 11/04.)
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To: RightFighter

That person and the female leader at the school mentioned here both need to be drummed out of education.

There are a lot like them in them thar hills. With that poor judgment, they picked the wrong field.


19 posted on 10/31/2008 10:17:54 PM PDT by DoughtyOne (Our nation is uncomfortably close to having B.O. We need to use a Republican roll on by 11/04.)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

There was a guy dressed as Jesus at San Diego’s Comic Con this year. It was a fantastic costume and he looked like he walked straight out of Greatest Story Ever Told - what a shock to see him in that huge room full of sci fi costumes, though!


20 posted on 10/31/2008 10:24:36 PM PDT by Moonmad27 (Simplify, simplify, simplify. H.D. Thoreau)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
The ultra-liberal teachers union only allows one Messiah costume.


21 posted on 10/31/2008 10:25:13 PM PDT by FormerACLUmember (When the past no longer illuminates the future, the spirit walks in darkness.)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet; 2ndMostConservativeBrdMember; afraidfortherepublic; Alas; al_c; american colleen; ..

http://www.paramus.k12.nj.us/westbrook.html
Principal -Mrs. Joan Kelly Broe
201-261-7800 x8202

http://www.paramus.k12.nj.us/
pboe@paramus.k12.nj.us , jbroe@paramus.k12.nj.us

http://wcbstv.com/seenon/jesus.halloween.costume.2.853729.html


22 posted on 10/31/2008 10:47:11 PM PDT by Coleus (Abortion and Physician-assisted Murder (aka-Euthanasia), Don't Democrats just kill ya?)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

He isn't dressed like Jesus, he's dressed up like Robert Powell.

23 posted on 10/31/2008 10:52:39 PM PDT by mnehring (We Are Joe!)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

If he had said, “no sir, I’m not dressed as Jesus, I’m dressed as Charles Manson”, he could have avoided this whole unpleasantness. (sarc)


24 posted on 10/31/2008 11:01:57 PM PDT by CaribouCrossing
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To: CaribouCrossing

He can say he is going as a character in an Andrew Lloyd Weber play.


25 posted on 10/31/2008 11:03:23 PM PDT by mnehring (We Are Joe!)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Offensive to some students? How ridiculous. They are kids and I doubt seriously they know what the word means.


26 posted on 10/31/2008 11:53:56 PM PDT by freekitty (Give me back my conservative vote.)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

He should have dressed as Obama. They would hve given him all the candy and let him “redistribute” it.


27 posted on 10/31/2008 11:54:29 PM PDT by TBP
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Is there any Christian on this board (other than me) who finds this student’s actions offensive?


28 posted on 11/01/2008 12:16:59 AM PDT by BraveMan
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To: FormerACLUmember

It’s hard to tell, does that mask have a big wart above the left nostril?


29 posted on 11/01/2008 12:34:28 AM PDT by beethoven
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To: A_Former_Democrat

Why didn’t they put out restrictions before the party? This is crazy. It seems to me they should have left it go this year, but next year put out no religious costumes, female costumes on men, male constumes on females, etc. This seems more reasonable.


30 posted on 11/01/2008 1:22:51 AM PDT by napscoordinator
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

What if he had dressed as a/The Devil?

How about if it had been a TV comedian dressing up
as Jesus on a TV variety show (and mocking Him);
surely that would be OK.

What about those bumper stickers I see that say:
Co-EXIST (using various religious symbols)

and

Freedom Of Religion Means Any Religion


31 posted on 11/01/2008 1:26:38 AM PDT by raccoonradio
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To: Bellflower
Every time I see a witch

When and where did you actually see a witch?

32 posted on 11/01/2008 3:13:06 AM PDT by humblegunner (If you're gonna die, die with your boots on.)
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To: Darkwolf377
If he’d dressed as a terrorist or “tortured” prisoner, he’d have been praised for his creativity and “open mind”.

They would have given him even more special treatment if he had dressed up like a sado-masochist homosexual...

33 posted on 11/01/2008 3:14:02 AM PDT by Sir Francis Dashwood (LET'S ROLL!)
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To: Darkwolf377
If he’d dressed as a terrorist or “tortured” prisoner, he’d have been praised for his creativity and “open mind”.

They would have given him even more special treatment if he had dressed up like a sado-masochist homosexual...

34 posted on 11/01/2008 3:14:42 AM PDT by Sir Francis Dashwood (LET'S ROLL!)
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To: BraveMan
Is there any Christian on this board (other than me) who finds this student’s actions offensive?

I find them to be at least of questionable taste.

At the same time, I find the principal's explanation...unfulfilling. If she had said that Christians complained about the costume, it might have made more sense to send him home - but I'll bet that if Christians had complained about the wide variety of Satanic imagery in other costumes, nothing would have happened to those students.
35 posted on 11/01/2008 4:00:02 AM PDT by beezdotcom
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To: Bellflower

You know, it isn’t innocent fun, if you don’t make it innocent fun! We have always dressed up and went trick or treating. It was about dressing up, and having fun, and eating candy....

It is about “All Saints Eve”...the eve of all saints day, the day that Martin Luther nailed his thesis on the door of the Catholic Church, and scared the crap out of them!!

That is what we celebrate. I can not help what witches celebrate...they celebrate the rising of the moon, and the changing of the seasons too...does that mean that I have to hide in the cellar on those days?

The kid in this story was doing the right thing. He was taking a celebration and using it as a witnessing tool. This is what we always do. We make up bags of candy, with tracts in them, and nice cards telling kids that Jesus loves them. When my kids would treat or treat, we printed up little slips of paper, with a verse on them, and gave them to ever house! Don’t sit home with your lights off and fear the devil...go out and rebuke him! Take the day back for Jesus!


36 posted on 11/01/2008 4:19:20 AM PDT by tuckrdout (~ 'Daily example is the most subtle of poisons.' ~)
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To: RightFighter

“Her reply was that they were not doing anything that was against district policy and so they would continue to have the fortune telling. Pathetic.”

Did you continue to raise a big stink about it? That’s the only way to get outrages like this stopped.


37 posted on 11/01/2008 5:19:51 AM PDT by ViLaLuz (2 Chronicles 7:14)
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To: BraveMan
Is there any Christian on this board (other than me) who finds this student’s actions offensive?

Should we? What should we find offensive?

38 posted on 11/01/2008 5:43:46 AM PDT by Turret Gunner A20
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

I’d like to dress my kid up with some 1.25 inch dowel rods cut to 12 inch lengths and strapped together with wires around his torso. He’d be a terrorist but I would have him tell the teacher he was Obama’s best friend.


39 posted on 11/01/2008 5:46:59 AM PDT by rfreedom4u (My Freedom of speech trumps your feelings!)
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To: DoughtyOne; RightFighter
With that poor judgment, they picked the wrong field.

I have to disagree. These women are in highly-paid administrative positions with absolute job security and incredible retirement and health benefits. And no matter what the administrators do or say, the parents continue to send their children to the school.

40 posted on 11/01/2008 7:10:34 AM PDT by Tax-chick ("This is our duty: to zot their sorry arses into the next time zone." ~ Admin Mod)
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To: CaribouCrossing

He could have claimed he was going as Gaius Baltar.


41 posted on 11/01/2008 7:18:16 AM PDT by Victoria_R
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To: Victoria_R

*snert*

That dweeb. I keep hoping he’ll get killed.


42 posted on 11/01/2008 7:20:06 AM PDT by Tax-chick ("This is our duty: to zot their sorry arses into the next time zone." ~ Admin Mod)
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To: BraveMan

I do. I thought he dressed up like Jesus because he considered that scary.


43 posted on 11/01/2008 7:22:34 AM PDT by Varda
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

I just love the religious literacy of today’s reporters! This kid is “studying Bible scripture”! And, as a Jew, he’s been Bar Mitzvahed, but, as a Christian, he’s studying “Bible scripture”—something Jews don’t do???

BTW: Abolish government collective schools, and problems like this disappear.


44 posted on 11/01/2008 8:29:17 AM PDT by Arthur McGowan
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
"It was offensive to some students," Woinski said, when asked what school officials told him the reason for being sent home was.

I find the whole Halloween thing offensive, and yet it's shoved in my face every year.

Nov 1 is one of the best days of the year, IMO.

45 posted on 11/01/2008 9:02:56 AM PDT by metmom (Welfare was never meant to be a career choice.)
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To: DaveLoneRanger; 2Jedismom; aberaussie; Aggie Mama; agrace; Anima Mundi; Antoninus; arbooz; ...

ANOTHER REASON TO HOMESCHOOL

This ping list is for the “other” articles of interest to homeschoolers about education and public school. This can occasionally be a fairly high volume list. The main Homeschool Ping List handles the homeschool-specific articles. I hold both the Homeschool Ping List and the Another Reason to Homeschool Ping list. Please freepmail me to let me know if you would like to be added to or removed from either list, or both.
46 posted on 11/01/2008 9:03:53 AM PDT by metmom (Welfare was never meant to be a career choice.)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

How many devils were there? Plenty I’m sure.


47 posted on 11/01/2008 9:14:35 AM PDT by stentorian conservative
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To: BraveMan
Is there any Christian on this board (other than me) who finds this student’s actions offensive?

Yep, count me in. If a student had showed up in my class dressed like Jesus I would have kicked him out. It is over the top offensive to me. That being said, none of my students dressed up at all this year.

48 posted on 11/01/2008 9:18:14 AM PDT by SoftballMominVA
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To: wintertime

I’m surprised the kids knew who Jesus is! And the thorns were a testimony to His suffering. Planting seeds. Good. Holloween, yuk. Celebration of death is what it has become.


49 posted on 11/01/2008 9:27:27 AM PDT by huldah1776 ( Worthy is the Lamb)
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To: mnehrling
He isn't dressed like Jesus, he's dressed up like Robert Powell.

Looks more like King Burger King.

50 posted on 11/01/2008 9:30:55 AM PDT by Hacksaw
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