Unfortunately, so was the word “evidence”.
>So if the church hadn’t tried to outlaw anything but had just said they weren’t going to put up halloween stuff themselves, would that be OK?
No. No, it wouldn’t be OK. They should be forced to put up all the most ghoulish and edgy Halloween decorations, especially in locations that have special significance to members of that religion. This sounds mean, perhaps, but the more this idea rolls around my head, the more fun it sounds like. And the children of families belonging to the church should have to join in Halloween festivities, especially the scarier ones. Yes, that would be a real rib tickler. Maybe they should have to keep the decorations up all year. And pipe frightening screams and insane sounding laughter all around the place. Mmmmmm. That would be wonderful.
I totally remember this church I was in once that had this almost life-sized decoration of a man wearing nothing but a loin cloth, spread-eagled and nailed to a post, with blood flowing out of his hand and foot wounds (where the nails were) and also a giant gash in his side, oozing blood. And it was right where everyone could see it–you couldn’t miss it. It was really realistic, too.
Scariest damn thing ever.