Joel Stein: Stop the War on Halloween

Why protecting our pagan holidays is at least as important as free lollipops

Illustration by Tomasz Walenta for TIME; Getty Images (2)

There's a war on Halloween, which I can prove by exaggerating a few isolated, inconsequential examples. This year, as Nick Gillespie wrote on Time.com the principal of Inglewood Elementary, near Philadelphia, cited separation of church and state in canceling school celebrations, though he later reversed his decision. Gloucester County, New Jersey, passed a resolution to cancel Halloween, though it turned out the county was just issuing safety tips. Still, there are a few schools in Portland, Ore., and others in Skokie, Ill.; San Jose, Calif.; Mechanicsburg, Pa.; Winnipeg, Manitoba; and Port Colborne, Ontario, that have definitely canceled Halloween. And...

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