An eighth grader at a New Jersey middle school was sent home Friday after he dressed up as Jesus Christ for Halloween.
Alex Woinski, 13, wore a white robe, red sash, sandals, fake beard, and crown of thorns on his head after receiving encouragement from his friends, who said he looked like Jesus with his shoulder-length hair.
When Alex arrived at West Brook Middle School in Paramus, however, officials told him he could only keep the costume on if he removed the beard and the crown of thorns.
School officials said the costume was a disruption and denied its religious nature had anything to do with it.
"Children were [asking], where is the boy who is Jesus Christ?" Principal Joan Broe told a local CBS affiliate. "It was disrupting the education process."
Alex, however, refused to heed the school’s orders and was sent home.
When asked what school officials told him the reason for being sent home was, Alex recalled to the local news station, "It was offensive to some students."
Alex, whose mother is Catholic and father is Jewish, recently celebrated his Bar Mitzvah and says he has developed an interest in religion. He is reportedly studying the Bible.
Despite the reception he received at school, Alex was not discouraged from donning the costume to go trick-or-treating Friday night.
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Black lips and eyeliner do not equate them with devil worship. That one child with a crucified pig seems to have an interesting view of art, but it doesn't suddenly make Christians martyrs of the public school system.
Students can come to school all year with black lips and black eye liner in which teachers and students must be tolerant. I remember once upon a time when I use to drive a school bus, a kid wore a T-shirt with a picture of a pig being crucified on a cross. Not only is this considered art, but it was completely tolerated. I doubt a single Christian said a word (except for me in retrospect).
Yeah Mike, it seems to be that the message of the cross is ofensive. Secularists and Christians both have been more outspoken as of late. The power struggle should be examined thoughtfully, all prejudices aside.
The growing intolerance for Christianity in America (yes, this is reality) may become the demise of it's democracy.
You people are all limited intellectual...the article said he wasn't dressing as Jesus for a religious reason! I'm sure he was dressing as Jesus because he had long hair and was making a mockery of it. What now? You are so quick to judge that Christians MUST be being persecuted because this kid was sent home. Yes, even on a costume day, there are some costumes that are now allowable, and yes, instruction still happens on Halloween if your teacher is any good at their job (for instance...me!)
Do I hear bias in this story? Perhaps a good law suit is in the works? I wondered if he'd dressed as a devil, would it have caused the same hostile reaction? I think not.
(Mat 10:34 NASB) - "Do not think that I came to bring peace on the earth; I did not come to bring peace, but a sword.
Now you all fail to see the seriousness of the matter. Goodness knows that all the school officials will die of a heart attack because of overexposure to Christianity and we won't have any more school officials...very serious indeed!
Well Alex, I hope you learn your lesson. Whenever you apply to college, they're gonna look to your record and watch if you're gonna wear a Jesus costume and create health problems for the school officials...call the costume police!
Dun dun...DUN!! Lawls on you O__o
I think this is the best! LOL! "officials are always the ones who send Jesus away...hmm..."disrupting the education process" with what they are teaching in there, I love how our LORD shakes things up! Keep shaking our world Lord Jesus!
The article didn't say whether all the students were allowed to dress in Halloween constumes. If they were allowed to do so, then I don't see how one particular costume could have been disruptive.
"disrupting the education process" huh? What education process? It was a dang day for a COSTUME PARTY!!! Wonder if they sent Satan home too? Oh that's right, they said the school officials were still on campus...
Students, don't you just luv em....LOL
artm-I could not agree more. PLEASE-disrupting the educational process-that's rich! These so-called school officials are so scared of Christ, it's just sad. What are they going to do when they stand before Him one day, as we all will? They won't know what scared is!!!
Come on school officials. Get real. You want youngsters to be open and free thinkers and then you limit what they can think about?
Other religious symbols occur in halloween costumes. Satan for the satanists. Mythological creatures for believers in mythology etc. By overreacting to the kid's costume, you've brought more attention to it.
If he had gone as satan, there would have been no problem. but there nothing that can cause people to think of Christ dare be allowed.