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.
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
He isn't dressed like Jesus, he's dressed up like Robert Powell.
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)
He can say he is going as a character in an Andrew Lloyd Weber play.
Offensive to some students? How ridiculous. They are kids and I doubt seriously they know what the word means.
He should have dressed as Obama. They would hve given him all the candy and let him “redistribute” it.
Is there any Christian on this board (other than me) who finds this student’s actions offensive?
It’s hard to tell, does that mask have a big wart above the left nostril?
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.
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
When and where did you actually see a witch?
They would have given him even more special treatment if he had dressed up like a sado-masochist homosexual...
They would have given him even more special treatment if he had dressed up like a sado-masochist homosexual...
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!
“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.
Should we? What should we find offensive?
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.
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.
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