Banning Halloween = Christian hypocrisy

[Guetz]

I find it ridiculous that Halloween and its expression is banned in many school districts and even entire communities. 

When I was growing up and this was arguably an even more devoutly Christian country (particularly when considering church attendance), Halloween was simply a holiday for kids, a fun time when kids could legally caper a bit.  No one gave a thought to the progenitors of the day other than to think of it as All Hallows Eve. 

As a 30 something adult I was totally taken aback when I come upon entire communities in which Halloween was banned as something evil, the reasons given being variations on the theme "it has pagan <gasp> roots."  I thought then and think now, many years of child rearing later, that this is a totally foolish hypocrisy!

Many aspects of modern Christian holidays have pagan roots due to the early church's assimilation of pagan cultures into Christianity and the syncretization of the pagan holidays.  Check out the histories of the Christian holidays Christmas and Easter in which there are previous pagan elements.  Compare those histories to that of Halloween and note the assimilative similarities. 

What a bunch of tripe to take something that used to be so auspiciously innocent in our culture and give it a negative spin by calling it evil and banning it.  In the words of my older than dirt HS science teacher (God bless his grouchy old soul), that's pure malarkey!  And hypocrisy!  If the expression of Halloween is to be banned because of ancient pagan associations then let's be intellectually honest and ban the expression of Chrismas and Easter too for the same reason.

I remember Halloween as the one uniquely kids holiday (even if we didn't get off of school for it).  An innocent time looked forward to with great anticipation and preparation.  It was the odd house in the neighborhood that did NOT have its lights on or give out treats.  Nobody ever thought to ask to be chauffeured from neighborhood to neighborhood to get more candy since you could get more than you could carry within a couple of streets of your own home.  And nobody ever gave a thought to banning it as something evil.

Let's give our kids back the innocence of this holiday and let it be theirs again unsullied with aspersions of it being un- or anti-Christian.

What do you think?



<puts soap box away, apologizes to those he has offended, but still holds his conviction about this hypocrisy>

[chevy lover]

Agreed. It is a time for kids to have alittle fun and yes it does have pagan roots. Personally, I find nothing wrong with the holiday, yet my church has different views.  I am not saying it is wrong, but as long as people do not take it to mean lets all go to the cemetary and worship the dead and try to raise them or whatever else people might think. We need to let the kids have their little bit of fun! I still celebrate Halloween when I am able to.

[amehr36]

Ive never been able to celebrate Halloween myself....(im one of the ones who was told how bad it was).  My church has always had an alternative night for the kids though.  We give them candy and let them dress up and have games and all the adults come together and eat, so its not that bad.  I wont let my kids dress like axe murderers or demons probably, but ill probably let them trick or treat a few times.

[SandLizard04]

As a 30 something adult I was totally taken aback when I come upon entire communities in which Halloween was banned as something evil, the reasons given being variations on the theme "it has pagan roots." I thought then and think now, many years of child rearing later, that this is a totally foolish hypocrisy!

The first thing I thought when I saw that was, "Well, so does Christmas and Easter."

But then you went on to cover that

[Lions84]

It's another knee jerk reaction to Wiccans and Satan worshipers coming out of the closet.

[chevy lover]

Basically all of the holidays that Christians celebrate have some pagan roots in them. Should we cancel all holidays and seclude?

[Guetz]

Basically all of the holidays that Christians celebrate have some pagan roots in them. Should we cancel all holidays and seclude?

Yes.... if you want to fall into the trap of the socialistic liberals that desire to remove all things religious from our world,  substituting instead a secular god in the form of government from whom all necessities would flow and to whom absolutely everything must be given. 

Alternatively and easier and by far more gratifying...  simply admit the intellectual fault in banning Halloween and allow the children's play night where it is currently suppressed.

If we want to continue on the pathway to an Orwellian newspeak world, in which everything becomes euphemistic under the onslaught of political correctness, then lets only ban things selectively, prejudicially, and raise our kids in a society that becomes evermore intellectually bankrupt.

[donkeyfan]

Basically all of the holidays that Christians celebrate have some pagan roots in them. Should we cancel all holidays and seclude?

Do what you want to do.  We live in a free country. 
We have a paradox here.  From start to finish, there are passages in the bible that say not to mix false(pagan) worship with true worship.  But it is nominal Christians who want the holidays with pagan roots and secular non-believers who don't want to see them in public. 
At the same time, we have a constitution that enumerates our right to express our religious beliefs, but prohibits the establishment of a state religion.  And then Christmas is a Federal Holiday.  Interesting situation.

[chevy lover]

A good Biblical philsophy is 'BE IN THE WORLD; NOT OF THE WORLD' Interpet however you choose.

[Bob Lablaw]

Nothin wrong with doin a little trick or treatin and havin some clean Halloween fun (or easter fun, etc.) People just need to lighten up or somethin....

[ljmom]

I've never heard that much about Christians trying to have Halloween banned.  Most of us sought an alternative such as "Harvest Fest" or "Fall Fest" and did our own thing...  We just changed the name. 

We didn't tell anyone else THEY couldn't have Halloween.  Most Christians observe the holiday anyway because they don't see it as evil, just another fun celebration for kids...They are taking away Christian's rights to worship every day.  What makes anyone think we could have Halloween banned? 

Now, the satan worshippers and wiccans have decided that Halloween portrays them in a negative light.  They contend that Halloween is discriminatory, against them.  THEY are doing the complaining and people will listen to them, because they are NOT Christians!   

[Lord Infamous™]

I've never heard that much about Christians trying to have Halloween banned. Most of us sought an alternative such as "Harvest Fest" or "Fall Fest" and did our own thing... We just changed the name.

We didn't tell anyone else THEY couldn't have Halloween. Most Christians observe the holiday anyway because they don't see it as evil, just another fun celebration for kids...They are taking away Christian's rights to worship every day. What makes anyone think we could have Halloween banned?

Now, the satan worshippers and wiccans have decided that Halloween portrays them in a negative light. They contend that Halloween is discriminatory, against them. THEY are doing the complaining and people will listen to them, because they are NOT Christians!

I wanted to say something about this but couldn't think of what I wanted to say. After reading your post I think you pretty much said everything for me.

[Guetz]

I've never heard that much about Christians trying to have Halloween banned. Most of us sought an alternative such as "Harvest Fest" or "Fall Fest" and did our own thing... We just changed the name.

We didn't tell anyone else THEY couldn't have Halloween. Most Christians observe the holiday anyway because they don't see it as evil, just another fun celebration for kids...They are taking away Christian's rights to worship every day. What makes anyone think we could have Halloween banned?

Now, the satan worshippers and wiccans have decided that Halloween portrays them in a negative light. They contend that Halloween is discriminatory, against them. THEY are doing the complaining and people will listen to them, because they are NOT Christians!

I wanted to say something about this but couldn't think of what I wanted to say. After reading your post I think you pretty much said everything for me.

LOL, I had never heard of wiccans or satanists (lower case intentional) trying to get Halloween banned as discriminatory.   Interesting.

As for it being banned... here in Booneville as well as in some other school districts, the expression of Halloween is banned.  Dressing up at school is forbidden, typical Halloween decorations are not allowed or any other things that would indicate Halloween.  The reason given the several times I have asked about it?  It has pagan roots and/or it celebrates evil.  Thus a vocal minority has succeeded in trashing something that was culturally innocent and uniquely for kids.  Yes, they have their euphemistic "fall fests" but they are poorly attended and everyone, including the kids, knows that they are not the same thing.  It is intellectually dishonest.  If they are not going to allow Halloween, don't try to substitute something else in its place.  That is not any different or intellectually more honest than substituting Happy Holidays for Merry Christmas.

I don't have a problem with parents telling their own kids what they can or can't do.  I don't have a problem with churches providing direction to their parishioners.  I DO have a problem when the school districts start taking direction from local churches... when my elected representatives on the school board are not representing commonly held views due to their own religious beliefs, painting things that are innocuous with a broad brush they label as evil but in reality is hypocrisy.

That all said, I agree with you LJMom, it bothers me that the expression of Christianity is becoming a target in this country.  I vote with my consumer dollars and encourage others to do the same regarding retail establishments that don't have the cajones to stand up to self-righteously indignant atheists or bleeding heart liberals (socialists).  I am very glad that the balance of power in the Supreme Court has changed from liberal to conservative (I hope) since at some point the "under God" test case is going to get there, passed upwards by the liberal lower courts, in particular the 9th Circuit (the left coast).  If that case succeeds it will only be a matter of time before the hue and cry is taken up to reprint and remint all of our money and to chisel off of every government building and courthouse any reference to God or Christianity.    We are still the USA, we still have a Constitution and we are still by a strong majority a Christian nation.... but if we don't start speaking up loud and strong, these things can be chisled away too.

[amehr36]

Well all the "Fall Fun Fests" we have are usually better attended than our actual church services  .  Its ok though cause it is a way to reach out to the kids in the neighborhood and instead of seeing demons and ghosts all night long, the kids get to come enjoy fellowship with good people in a church environment.  I however do stand by the fact that i will probably let my kids trick or treat at least a couple of times when i have them.

[Lord Infamous™]

Well all the "Fall Fun Fests" we have are usually better attended than our actual church services . Its ok though cause it is a way to reach out to the kids in the neighborhood and instead of seeing demons and ghosts all night long, the kids get to come enjoy fellowship with good people in a church environment. I however do stand by the fact that i will probably let my kids trick or treat at least a couple of times when i have them.

I seen you in Wal-Mart friday.

[mudturtle]

It is hard to figure out this "evil" stuff.  One of my conservative friends boycots "The Little Mermaid", Narnia and all the Harry Potter stuff but they all sit around and watch Lord of the Rings.

[Guetz]

I thought Narnia was being touted by various Christian organizations as upholding Christian principles?  Why would others shun it?

[Bob Lablaw]

Why do people do a lot of things?

[chevy lover]

They try to control things that they have no control over.

[hoghigh]

I thought Narnia was being touted by various Christian organizations as upholding Christian principles? Why would others shun it?

Others shun anything if it is not found between the the cover and backing of a particular book.  No matter what the implied meaning or anything, they will not support it.

[junkyard dog]

It is hard to figure out this "evil" stuff. One of my conservative friends boycots "The Little Mermaid", Narnia and all the Harry Potter stuff but they all sit around and watch Lord of the Rings.

Yeah,

I have a couple of "never miss church" friends tell me the same thing.  Won't go see Harry Potter, by the which I've never seen in the theater 'cause I'm to cheap and didn't want to.  LOL.  Got nothing to do with evil or anything else.  But they did go see Lord of the Rings.  They told me it was a great show about 'good versus evil.'  I say "whatever".

[Chief_Osceola™]

Disclaimer: I haven't read all this, so I may be rehashing something.

I have no problem with Halloween - IMO it's a good excuse for me the kids to get candy, and an opportunity for me to mingle w/ the neighbors.  If goverment agencies begin to publicly fund Halloween events, I would probably be against that, since it would seem to be a violation of the state-sponsored religion laws, much the same way the liberals gripe about anything relating to Christmas.  Not because I would be offended; no, I would probably speak out against something like that just to be an sir....you know, fighting fire w/ fire.  Further, regarding Christmas, would it be too much a stretch to tell those same people who are so against it that they have to go to work that day?  Or do they only go against something as long as it's convenient for them to do so?  I hate nothing more than these people's hypocrisy....they want no mention of Christmas, yet have no issues with 'celebrating' the day by taking a holiday day off work.