Arizona teacher accused of dressing as the devil, saying ‘hail Satan’ placed on leave
An Arizona high school teacher has been placed on leave after he allegedly taught his classes while dressed as the devil for Halloween spirit week and put a pitchfork over students' heads, saying "Hail Satan" as they entered the classroom.
In a statement released to local media this week, Mesa Public Schools explained that administrators were notified of an alleged incident at Mesa High School late last Wednesday afternoon.
"Our Human Resources department began the investigation Thursday morning and placed the teacher on paid administrative leave pending the result of the investigation," the statement reads. "The investigation remains ongoing."
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Sophomore student Nathaniel Hamlet reported that a teacher entered a classroom at Mesa High School adorned in devil horns, with a pitchfork in hand, according to KPNX.
The teacher allegedly waved the pitchfork over the students while saying: "hail Satan."
"Some people thought it was funny. Some people didn't like it. Some people were like 'whatever.' They just blew it off," Hamlet told the outlet.
The student said the costume offended his Christian faith.
"I said, 'Don't do that to me,' and I pushed [the pitchfork] away, maybe three or four times, and he still said it and still did it," Hamlet said.
The student reported the incident to his father, Chris Hamlet, a Republican who ran for the Mesa Unified School Board board in 2022. The father informed the school's principal.
"I was livid because I am a Christian, as well," Chris Hamlet told KPNX.
"What really tipped it over for me is, he kept telling him 'no.' And he and the teacher kept persisting."
The teacher involved told KPNX that he dressed up for the school's Halloween spirit week, teaming up with another teacher who dressed as an angel.
Halloween celebrations at schools across the country are continuing to be met with criticism from concerned parents and administrators.
A New Jersey school district reportedly announced this month students were prohibited from participating in Halloween festivities during school hours to "instill greater equity."
For many Christians, Halloween is viewed as a demonic holiday that celebrates the occult because it originated from the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain.
The celebration was traditionally held halfway between the autumn equinox and winter solstice and is seen as a period when the veil separating the world and the spirit realms is at its thinnest.
Polling shows that 78% of Americans planned to celebrate Halloween in 2022.
The Christian polling firm Lifeway Research published a survey of over 1,000 Protestant pastors interveiwed in September 2022, which found that only 13% say they urge their congregations to avoid celebrating Halloween altogether, up from 8% in a 2016 survey.
However, there are some Christians who observe what they believe is a watered-down, commercialized version of the holiday that has become more about costumes, trick-or-treating and carving pumpkins than a celebration to ward off evil spirits.
Nicole Alcindor is a reporter for The Christian Post.
