Question on Halloween

Every year, somebody wears a halloween costume that the media pronounces "controversial." Last year, it was a college student dressed as a suicide bomber; two years ago, Prince Harry came to a party dressed as a Nazi. This provided the occasion for much puffery amongst the bien pensants.

I don't get it. It's Halloween, fer Pete's sake! You're supposed to dress like something scary. Well, don't Nazi suicide bombers, um, fit the bill?

It's ridiculous to argue that dressing up as a suicide bomber on Halloween makes you a supporter of suicide bombing. Should we infer from all the witch costumes a broad support for witchcraft?

I am reminded that several of the churches I have attended have hosted alternative non-Halloween Halloween parties: Harvest Festival, Reformation Day, etc. At one of these, costumes referencing dark spirits (ghosts, goblins, witches, and the like) were specifically discouraged. These alternatives are motivated by the belief that dark spirits are nothing to mess with, even in fun.

But I would bet that the same people who would denounce our church as a bunch of fundamentalist ninnies are the very ones now denouncing these costumes. I smell somebody's PC orthodoxy at work.