Why is Halloween celebration allowed in public shool, but prayer in school is prohibited?

Question

Miss Kitty, the way I compare Halloween and prayer is by history of pagan practices versus those of Christianity. If this pagan practice can be observed in public schools, most certainly there is room for prayer to be allowed in school.

Dave R, at best a plausible response. I invite you to do your own study on the history of Halloween to better address this issue with others in the future.

LOL! Good answer, Billy. I will remember your answer next semester!

kat, you have stirred my curiosity (no pun intended, really). If through much thought man can decide what is and is not religion, I wonder why Halloween lost its...religion. I will do more research on this point. Thanks.

Mike B, separation of church and state is designed to allow the church to operate freely without the government restraint.

Nate Train, my studies revealed the same information, that's why I'm curious about the observance of Halloween. If prayer isn't allowed, neither should Halloween celebration. Anyway, it's just a thought to counteract the impact of government undergirding efforts eroding the foundation upon which our forefathers stood.

Fenrisl0k1, I understand your point, but children living in households where Halloween is not celebrated are not graciously allowed not to participate by their peers.

Wise ol' owl, thanks for the welcome to America. You're so right. The ripple affect of 911 increased church attendance tremendously. Actually, in some state, the students can initiate prayer, but not the administrators.

Answer 1

Curious, isn't it?

BTW, as an old college professor told me, "As long as there are final exams, there will be prayer in schools." :D

Answer 2

Halloween is considered a non-religious holiday, and it is only tolerated by the school. While they may occasionally allow for students to appear in costume, that's not the rule. Any school-participant Halloween party is also likely to be heavily moderated. The school never leads any pagan rituals on Halloween, as they might lead Christian prayers. Put another way, the school assumes that the students won't be celebrating halloween and may tolerate those that do, while a school that leads in prayer assumes that all students will join in and the resulting peer pressure would discourage opting-out. Also, the separation between church and state, where schools are state-run, precludes the state from explicitly condoning one religion at any other's expense. From this logic, passive tolerance of Halloween is allowed even if it were considered religious (which only Christians really seem to), but active support of prayer would not be.

Answer 3

Where my children attend school - no mention of Halloween is allowed. It's a "Fall festival" or a "Harvest celebration" - no costumes allowed, no stories read, etc. And if it wasn't for the room mothers sending in goodies, treats, so forth, the school would actually prefer not to acknowledge that season/holiday at all!! So I guess it's just become tooo politically correct because the reason given was that they don't wish to upset anyone who might not celebrate Halloween. I hate that, because Halloween is a magical time for a little child!

Answer 4

Halloween is also known as 'All Hallows' Eve.' It was the day before All Saints' Day. It actually used to be a Christian holiday. In an attempt to convert the Celtic tribes in the early Middle Ages, Christian missionaries took Celtic (or Germanic) festivals that were near in date to Christian holidays and told those that they wished to convert that they were the same. These are the roots of the modern Halloween.

And the Bill of Rights says NOTHING about 'separation of church and state.' Those words are not there. In fact, it is not even implied.

Answer 5

Actually, prayer in school is not prohibited. School sponsored prayer is prohibited. Big difference.

As for the Halloween celebration, it is complety secular. As a Pagan, I assure you, that the Halloween celebrations in school bear absolutely no resemblance to a Pagan Samhain observance. And as far as I am aware, it is not very similar to the Dia de los Muertes of the Central and South American Catholics either.

Answer 6

Because All Hallow's Eve or Halloween is no longer considered a religious practice but prayer is. Other aspects that used to be used or are still used on Halloween would not be allowed in school.

Answer 7

Halloween is now considered a secular holiday as it is celebrated by most of the population and has for the most part left the religious realm. I know that there are groups that oppose the celebration of Halloween such as Jehovah's Witnesses and fundamental Christians. If that is what they choose then who am I to argue? It is for that reason that in my kindergarten classroom, if parents come to me and tell me that they do not want their child to participate in Halloween activities, or the activities for any holiday for that matter, I will respect their wishes and I exclude the child from the offending activities. We talk about it in class and I teach my students about tolerance and respect for other people's views. I have yet to have a student tease another student or make him/her feel bad for not being able to celebrate a holiday. Usually it is the child whose parents are making him be excluded who is begging me to let them participate with the rest of the class. Nobody likes to by left out. I feel bad for the Jehovah's Witness kids who don't even get to participate in birthday parties.

Answer 8

Welcome to America. BTW-Prayer is still going on in schools. Parents must continue to teach their children to pray before eating meals, snacks, naps, and tests. There is nothing the school can do about it. Christian parents need to equip their children with the whole armor of God, which includes prayer.

If CHristians stood up for their rights, we wouldhave it back in school legally. Don't worry, once we have another 9/11 incident, everybody will be praying again.

Answer 9

Actually, at my school, Halloween celebration isn't allowed. I mean, people can dress up but as far as spirit week goes, we can't designate Halloween as "Halloween dress-up day" or anything. We can't mention any religious holiday or Halloween when advertising events in high school.

Answer 10

Halloween isn't a religious practice, or part of religion.