Ignorance
There's really no other way to describe it. This letter was sent to the principal of my elementary school when my dad was on the APT (or maybe it was PTA or PTO, anyway, the group of parents and teachers who decide things for an individual school). It has to do with one of the events at the annual Halloween party which took place at the school. I've omitted some information, which is in [brackets], as are my own comments to particularly ignorant parts. If you are the person who wrote this and would like me to take it off my page, just tell me, but if you're anybody else who's offended by it, tough.
[date]
[principal]
North Ward School
With Halloween time approaching, we are reminded of an uneasiness we have felt for several years, and feel we should share it with you.
We are appreciative of the planning and effort North Ward personnel and parents willingly devote to provide wholesome and entertaining Halloween school activities to help keep kids off the streets and to provide a safer, fun experience. The games in the various rooms and costume contests surely achieve this goal. We understand that the intent behind the "haunted house" is to provide more of the same, but we wish everyone would stop and consider whether or not it really is a wholesome and helpful activity for young children.
We live in a society whose moral base is crumbling. Not only is crime rampant, but the character of many perpetrators of hideous crimes are those who openly claim to be practicing witchcraft and Satanism. [or claim to, in order to use "the devil made me do it" as an excuse instead of accepting responsibility themselves] Our little community of Allegan is not exempt from these unbelievable examples of man's inhumanity to man. [does this inhumanity include a group of homophobes, who are no doubt christians, attacking a single gay male? or is it just crimes against christians?]]
Our children's popular culture--TV programs, videos, music, magazines, even "comic" books--is steeped with depiction of cruelty which work to desensitize them and encourage them to accept cruel attitudes and behaviors, rather than being appalled by them. [and then there's the violence in the Bible itself, but that was a long time ago, so we can pretend it never happened] What is the effect of hour after hour of such fare as "Freddy Krueger," "Chainsaw Massacre," and the like? [can't be any worse than a public stoning in Jesus's time, or romans paying to see actual human beings fight to the death] Kids and adults alike laugh at such sights as "entertain-ment" instead of being appropriately shocked and disgusted! There is a lot of documented research reporting the link between hours of viewing sadistic movies and violent crimes, just as there is between viewing pornographic material and the commission of sexual crimes. [okay, this is just plain bullshit. any connection comes from having cause and effect reversed. watching smut doesn't make somebody go out and rape little boys, but the type of person who does that no doubt enjoys watching actors do it, as well] We want to not only question the wisdom of a "fun house" oriented toward the frightening and violent side of Halloween; we want to challenge those who claim to be Christians to recognize that this is inconsistent with Christian values and Scriptural teaching.
We realize that public school is not to be expected to support a lot of our Christian values; our children would be in private Christian school if we had the finances for it. [yeah, that's good, keep them entirely closed off from the real world until their naïve nature is so ingrained as to give them no way to deal with what actually happens] But the things that damage our children rather than helping them to develop positively also damage other children.
How could some jr. high students participate in human sacrifice and drinking human blood?! It's happened here in Allegan. [sure it has] On highways and fields near here people have been found chopped to pieces, hanging from rafters and shot "for the fun of it" (by the admission of the perpetrators)! [this must be like all those AIDS-infected needles in payphones and such, that happen all the time but the media never seem to hear about it, nor do the police] What happened in these people's development to get them to the place of tolerating such gruesome thoughts and actions? [perhaps they've simply gotten so used to seeing pictures of a naked man nailed to a piece of wood that they've been desensitized] Isn't it obvious that the mind becomes perverted a little at a time with things which are perhaps rationalized away as not being all so bad? Isn't it likely that, getting accustomed to watching depictions of cruel behavior, the cumulative effect will be so great that some will begin to personally "act out" such behavior at times of anger, stress, frustration, or when inhibitions are weakened under the influence of alcohol or drugs? [but what about the greater number of people who are already on the edge and for whom such entertainment offers a better form of releasing aggression than actually committing the act?]
Why risk contributing to this desensitization process? Why not plan a "fun house" which is legitimately that--funny--instead of gory and frightening? [enough with the underlines already] One can plan things which will be unexpected and surprising, and therefore a little "spooky" and mysterious, and still not get involved with the chopped off body parts, blood and gore concepts. [i may have been in elementary school, but i think i would have remembered "chopped off body parts" at the halloween party]
We always hear the argument, "if you don't approve of this activity, your kids don't have to participate." Our concern is the likelihood of our kids someday becoming the victims of those grown kids who did participate in everything their society offered, because their parents, their teachers, their community saw nothing wrong with it. Or perhaps some did see something wrong, but failed to speak out and take a public stand. [perhaps a good point, but you're off the deep end again with the supposed influence such minor activities have on most people]
We don't expect the general public to understand the dark, pagan nature of many Halloween activities. [not to mention Christmas (celebrated in place of the pagan winter solstice holiday) or Easter (the date of which is determined by both the spring equinox and a full moon, very pagan ideas)] But we do expect that those who claim to be Christians--and there are many at North Ward--not compromise on Biblical principles. God has clearly recorded for us His absolute standards of right and wrong; Deut. 18:9-14 makes it clear that witchcraft is horrible in the eyes of God, as is dabbling with the occult. [what's your point? Lev. 10:10 says the same thing about eating shellfish, and Exodus 35:2 says working on the Sabbath is punishable by death] True Christians believe in the reality of spirit power and demonic activity, and that we are in constant warfare with these powers of darkness (evil). [can we say "superstitious?"] How can we believers join with the world that doesn't know the Word of God and the power of Christ in making light of the concept of witches, evil spirits, and murderous harmful activity--the Halloween gore?
We urge you to consider the claims of God and our Saviour, Jesus Christ, and exert your influence to adjust the tone of the fun house to be in keeping with the seriousness of these issues.
Thank you so much for listening and for helping provide the other wholesome Halloween activities. If you'd like to speak with us in person, we'd be happy to stop by. Writing this letter has been difficult. [what with making the whole thing up and all] We address this matter only because we feel it is our moral responsibility to do so.
Respectfully,
Mr. and Mrs. [name of husband]