I skip reading stories that pop up in my Facebook feed because of my biases. When I read this headline, Jesus costume gets Highland Park senior thrown out of school, I thought was about the costume being sacrilegious, so I did not read it. I'm sick of reading about Christian privilege. It permeates the news, my Facebook feed, and even my email. I was wrong. The story was about something else. The administration thought the costume would offend.
Shortly before school let out for the day, the high school released a statement, stating that: "We initially were concerned that the costume could be offensive to religious sensibilities. Upon further review, we realized the student did not intend to be offensive."
The kid wanted to celebrate converting to Christianity, so the school thought his intent was ok. I don't understand this. What does his intent have to do with how others will view his costume?
The kid goes on to make it a racial issue, which I also think is a wrongheaded too. The schools administration was simply doing what do-gooders do; screw things up by trying to control things they can’t control. Let the kid be Jesus. Some people will be offended, others will slap him on the back, as long as my kid can be Zeus, it's all good.
