Halloween And Religion
Jul 5th, 2009 by Benedict Fisher
Halloween has suffered from more persecution than other public celebrations in the United States. Normally, the persecution comes from the religious communities in the different states. The focus is often the so-called ’satanic’ overtones of the celebration.
Understanding the persecution
Nowadays, the word ’satanic’ has become ambiguous in churchly domains. If the Western Christian belief was summarized, then the devil’s picture would appear to be anything that did not look Christian.
Picture this — anything unknown or outside of the circle was considered evil. It’s the same as looking outside at the endless skyline from a small room. This unconquered vista is seen as dangerous and, according to such beliefs, evil. This can be established by analyzing how the portrayal of evil has changed through time.
Complete removal?
The religious Right had wanted for a long time to completely remove the Halloween festivities from schools. The reason for this is the ‘pagan’ themes of Halloween celebrations. The ‘ugly’ beings like goblins and ghouls are considered evil and Satanic.
Rationally, if you’re operating with this hypothetical agenda, then kids who wear devilish costumes are encompassed by the devil’s army. Quite ridiculous, but religious communities have a very large following.
Reaction
Then again, not everybody is a fan of the conventional, extreme religious Right. And as stated in the newspaper The Atlanta Constitution:
“Halloween may have begun as a pagan festival, but in the United States it was now a festival of fun, feasts, fancy frocks, and frivolous fright. Ours is not just a Christian nation, but a nation born from the search of religious freedom. Let the kids have some fun.”
Because of such strong, critical views of Halloween, the celebration has been saved from unjust persecution and complete immolation.
Fighting back, more and more
Since all efforts have failed, the religious communities have taken other measures to make sure that they have their say as to how the Halloween festivities are to be carried out. These communities are purely reactionary, meaning; they don’t have a clear program.
They react based on shallow ideas and not the deeper issues - thus, they fail to assess the problem completely. However, religious parties attempt to fight off Halloween by doing the exact opposite of contemporary Halloween customs.
For example, the adults want their children to wear “happy” clothes instead of Halloween costumes. In addition to this, these religious adults alter the basic concept of a haunted house to integrate their own ideas.
One good example of this is the Trinity Christian School in Texas. The said school has been known to set up a Hell House on a yearly basis. The Hell House provokes the usual schemes and themes in renowned culture such as:
- Drug-ridden raves
- Premarital sex
- Homosexuality
- Domestic violence
- School shootings
These houses have been put up with the intent of leading confused and juvenile teenagers to an alleged road to righteousness. But are they efficient? Surprisingly, they are. Out of the 75,000 teenagers who have been recorded at a time, approximately 15,000 have become members of the community.
This is one of the most prominent weapons of evangelism today - aside from the Internet.
