Halloween Banned!

A school in Puyallup Washington has banned all Halloween activities. Why?

"We have been contacted by followers of the Wiccan religion, and they indicated they have been offended after seeing elementary school depictions of witches with long noses, warts, cauldrons and such," said Tony Apostle, the superintendent who banned Halloween.

Halloween activities have also been banned elsewhere in the country but for a different reason:

Complaints about Halloween from Pentecostal parents in Texas have forced a significant number of that state's school districts to cancel in-school parties, said Richard W. Stadelmann, a professor of religious studies at Texas A&M University.

There is a geographical pattern to the grumbling, according to Stadelmann and others. Christian complaints come mostly from the South and Midwest, whereas Wiccan complaints are more likely to come from California and the Pacific Northwest.