Parents, Piety and Halloween Humbug

2343 Views 15 Replies 14 Participants Last post by Countess No, Nov 12, 2014

Skeptic

Discussion Starter · Nov 7, 2014

Came across this blog post by John Pavlovitz http://johnpavlovitz.com/2014/10/31/christian-stop-being-scared-of-halloween/, entitled "Christian Stop Being Scared of Halloween" which I'll link to for your perusal. It's so refreshing to hear the call to get real and enjoy life on this issue. My middle child has run into more than one friend denied the joy of trick or treating when inquiring about this year's costume, only to hear the reply that Mom and Dad think Halloween is evil. My wife posted this blogger 's article on her FB page and got this reply from one of her friends, notably a PhD in Psychology and a believer:

"Cause dressing up as witches and vampires proves that we are fundamentally different from the values and priorities of the world. I remember Dr. Jon Bonk saying that it was inevitable that institutions that start out as Christian gradually lose their identity and become utterly secularized. As usual,, he was right."

I won't share much of my response, but a sample, "Halloween is one of the few safe opportunities/traditions we have left in North America [I know HF is an international community] to visit and meet our neighbors, a segway to community in a time where technology is in some ways making interaction less personable. It’s about a good time for the whole family, about creativity and community, a celebration, as all good celebrations are, of life."

I know there are many in the faith community who "get it" and we enjoy the holiday together, but how the pious abstainer hopes to demonstrate the value of his/her beliefs and worldview to us by a disdain for fun and community spirit on Halloween, I don't care to know. Halloween evil? Pretentious nonsense.

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Chops6965

· #2 · Nov 7, 2014

Mr. Pavlovitz is a wise man! I liked his article very much.

It makes me very sad when folks won't let their kids participate in Halloween activities. They are denying them their childhood in my opinion.

Long live Halloween!!

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Countess No

· #3 · Nov 7, 2014

Halloween has been celebrated in America for decades. There are halloween postcards from the olden days that halloween collectors pay lots of money for, sent by our probably way more religious ancestors.

There are so many vintage halloween photos of old timey, cool halloween celebrations. Our forefathers did not shy away from halloween because it was "evil.'

They celebrated and had a good time.

I respect each person's choice of halloween celebrations, or if they choose to have none at all. But no one can convince me that celebrating halloween is evil

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StanFam3

· #4 · Nov 7, 2014

Countess No said:
Halloween has been celebrated in America for decades. There are halloween postcards from the olden days that halloween collectors pay lots of money for, sent by our probably way more religious ancestors.

There are so many vintage halloween photos of old timey, cool halloween celebrations. Our forefathers did not shy away from halloween because it was "evil.'

They celebrated and had a good time.

I respect each person's choice of halloween celebrations, or if they choose to have none at all. But no one can convince me that celebrating halloween is evil

It's a modern day extremist / fundie view that really gained fuel in the 1980's. It's utter nonsense mind you, but hey, this is 'Merica where we can believe as we choose.

22606

· #5 · Nov 8, 2014

Fantastic article. I will never understand the thinking of some regarding the holiday.

Here is another commentary, about a pope opting to institute 'Holyween' in place of the Halloween celebration. Anyone care to dress as a saint and attempt to pray the evil away? To me, that sounds like nothing but wasted time and effort, about as likely as a dolphin topping the Pop charts (then again, that could be an improvement over what trash is out there now)

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/pope-wants-ban-halloween-because-4533824

Abunai

· #6 · Nov 8, 2014

I hope that everyone keeps in mind that not all Christians are anti-Halloween.

I love Halloween. Most people would say I'm obsessed with Halloween. But I support,100%, everyone's right to believe whatever religious beliefs they believe.

I cringe every time I surf my Halloween websites and see people bashing Christians.

A LOT of people (a vast majority of people, in fact) in the U.S. are Christians. That includes the most ardent haunted attraction patrons, the owners of the most successful haunted houses, and the creators of the coolest, scariest Halloween props.

Don't assume that all Christians are against Halloween and haunted houses, and don't assume that all haunters are against Christians.

Reactions: 5

hallorenescene

· #7 · Nov 8, 2014

I enjoyed this article

cricket515

· #8 · Nov 9, 2014

I won't share much of my response, but a sample, "Halloween is one of the few safe opportunities/traditions we have left in North America [I know HF is an international community] to visit and meet our neighbors, a segway to community in a time where technology is in some ways making interaction less personable. It’s about a good time for the whole family, about creativity and community, a celebration, as all good celebrations are, of life."

So true! I've seen so many positive responses this year about Halloween, mostly from neighborhood parents who've said it was their best holiday of the year because they were able to see people they haven't seen in ages and reconnect with in a leisurely setting. Now with Christmas being forced down our throats before the Halloween candy even goes on sale and the start of the shopping craziness, this is where Christians should become more upset in my opinion.

Reactions: 3

LaBruja

· #9 · Nov 10, 2014

Garthgoyle said:
Fantastic article. I will never understand the thinking of some regarding the holiday.

Here is another commentary, about a pope opting to institute 'Holyween' in place of the Halloween celebration. Anyone care to dress as a saint and attempt to pray the evil away? To me, that sounds like nothing but wasted time and effort, about as likely as a dolphin topping the Pop charts (then again, that could be an improvement over what trash is out there now) http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/pope-wants-ban-halloween-because-4533824

First..there is only one Pope..secondly ,isnt the mirror to the UK like the national enquirer is in the US?
I googled this and yes it seems some of the Catholic Church's Exorcists (300 of them got together for a conference) are saying something about a rise in problems over the holiday..but really everyone says that..for years..and in ITALY the church did a Holyween. But this is nothing new. All Saints Day is November 1st , with the vigil mass on Oct 31st. ( All souls day is Nov 2nd) All Saints day has been celebrated by churches ( Not just Catholic..other Christian religions) since the start of the 8th century. Yes , many christian holidays ( Holy Days..where the word holiday came from) were put in place near existing feasts and events to help ..shall we say..ease the transition from pagan to christianity when they were converting people. But again..nothing new..except with being a much more global society we hear every peep..
I was in Catholic grade school in the mid 70's thru early 80's. First graders usually had to pick a saint or religious figure to dress up for as Halloween. After that..Halloween was Halloween with witches and JOL die cuts hung in the class room, parties and a parade of all of us in costume around the block for parents and townspeople to see if they were around. Just a fun Halloween.

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hallorenescene

· #10 · Nov 11, 2014

abumai, you sound like you don't believe there are a lot of Christians on this forum. just because one is on this forum doesn't mean they're not Christian.

Blarghity

· #11 · Nov 11, 2014

Skeptic said:
a segway to community in a time where technology is in some ways making interaction less personable

Segway is one of those technologies making interaction less personable (specifically by promoting elitism). Segue, on the other hand, is a smooth transition to something.

I got a good laugh out of that innocent mistake of yours. Language is just another very important thing being corrupted by technology, in more ways than one.

Ween12amEternal

· #12 · Nov 11, 2014

Please remember attacks & offensive generalizations are not allowed.

Ugly Joe

· #13 · Nov 11, 2014

Halloween is evidence of the basic good in people.

You go to a strangers house and knock on their door...at night...in something that hides your identity.
They open the door anyway.
They give you something to eat..with no way of tracking who gave you what item to eat...you eventually eat it, with no way of knowing where it came from or what may have been done to it.
You interact with countless strangers all night long...most of whom you couldn't identify to police, even if it meant your life, due to costumes, confusion, and just simply having too many people coming and going.
Caution is, for the most part, thrown to the wind and the opportunity for horrific crimes to be committed with no chance of prosecution is absolutely everywhere all night long.

...and yet...

everything is all right at the end of the night.
No demons roaming the earth.
No poltergeists disturbing the living.
Souls are safe and sound in their proper places.
The end hasn't begun.

I think we're doing something right.

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ChrisW

· #14 · Nov 12, 2014

Ugly Joe said:
No demons roaming the earth.
No poltergeists disturbing the living.
Souls are safe and sound in their proper places.

...or are they?

Just kidding.

Reactions: 2

Wolfman

· #15 · Nov 12, 2014

Good article, really puts things in perspective. But, hey, the vocal minority do not speak for ALL Christians. And, over the years, I've actually been approached by parents (well, three mothers come to mind) who belatedly told me they wish they hadn't been so "harsh" when it came to Halloween; that, after the kids have grown up and left the nest, they feel bad at depriving the kids out of clean, honest fun. You only get one shot at being a parent. I'm sure there are a lot of older parents who feel that way.

Reactions: 2

Countess No

· #16 · Nov 12, 2014

Wolfman said:
Good article, really puts things in perspective. But, hey, the vocal minority do not speak for ALL Christians. And, over the years, I've actually been approached by parents (well, three mothers come to mind) who belatedly told me they wish they hadn't been so "harsh" when it came to Halloween; that, after the kids have grown up and left the nest, they feel bad at depriving the kids out of clean, honest fun. You only get one shot at being a parent. I'm sure there are a lot of older parents who feel that way.

That would be a very bad feeling; kids are small for a very short time, and ToTing and halloween are great times and memories for families.

I know that some people don't like halloween, and it isn't my place to force them to like it, or participate.

But gosh darn it, as a Christian, there are so many things that are much more harmful to kids that dressing up and going to neighbors homes or events and getting candy and having fun.

My 3 oldest do not ToT anymore, but I remember when my oldest son's "bad" friend came over and helped us get ready for halloween.

He is not a bad kid, just very wild and unsupervised. He is a very nice boy when he wants to be. I want to drag his parents behind wild horses, but that is another story.

He was helpful and had fun with us. It was pretty neat to see such a rebel teenager with a muscle car that gets kicked out of football games do part of halloween with us.

Parents need to worry about the "big" stuff. Looking back at a kid's life, people must think: "I was worried about trick or treating?"

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