Reb Jent, all of the sudden you are a big maikil? Can a leopard change his spots?
NotPashut, what you write is almost kefirah. I can’t believe any Rov would say that we have a right to change Hilchos Shabbos to serve as a method of crowd control. It borders on total sheker. Where is the midas haemes? If you feel people shouldn’t congregate or dress up, then tell them not to. But to twist an unrelated halacha to serve your end seems totally intellectually dishonest.
Why not say that making hakafas in shul in Simchas Torah is a Christian minhag in order to get the women who bring there kids to stay home. If you feel they should stay home (which I don’t and don’t think anybody does, but just as an example), then be honest and tell them to stay home. Don’t tell them a sheker that it is a Christian minhag to achieve your purpose, when in fact it is a holy Jewish minhag.
This is a perversion of the entire Torah and midas haemes.