Turns out not.
The Christian Science Monitor has an article tracking evangelism efforts surrounding Halloween and quotes Mary Gelfand, a Wiccan high priestess in New Orleans.
There you have it, sports fans. Toss in a Chick Track with those Mike-n-Ikes. The pagans are saying 'no blood, no foul'."She notes that Satan, like Halloween, is a Christian invention of no importance to pagans, who practice an earth-centered spirituality. What pagans do in communicating with deceased ancestors has nothing to do with the commercial act of trick-or-treating, she says. Therefore, she's not troubled by Christian efforts to make it an occasion for evangelism.
"They're not affecting my holiday," Ms. Gelfand says. "If [evangelism] is a meaning they want to reinsert in this, that doesn't really bother me."
Of course, if you're planning a Hallelujah Harvest Hoe Down, you'd better hope GL doesn't show. He demands premium candy and manly-man pastors. :) Has it been a year already?!?
7 comments:
Well, Halloween has come and gone here without much fanfare. I noticed this year that there wasn't much advertising of costumes by the stores, so it was not such a big deal. We closed our gates so they couldn't come to the door. (bad Christians that we are) I just can't be bothered with explaining to little kids that I don't want to give them candy after they went to all that trouble to dress up. A couple of teenagers didn't even bother dressing up and tried to get candy. A bit cheeky I thought.
Is paganism indeed focused on the earth? I hear such things and wonder how to discern the truth of it... what is your take on this?
I hadn't read the first post yet... out here in Philly it seems to be a big deal - seems like up to 10% of homes are decorated in some way, some are very elaborate. Among the evangelical community there is close to zero discernment about this and just about all the kids go out for candy and the few I don't know about that don't must feel repressed.
When I lived in Cleveland most churches had alternative events with enough sugar to rot the kids' primary teeth within the month, or we had conferences of enough magnatude that we completely forgot about Halloween. Usually I would get blasted and end up shaking in a chair until about 11pm or something.
While planting a church in Cincinnati, we decided that the devil doesn't get a day. A parade of kids coming to our door was a dream come true, no matter how they were dressed.
We pulled the grill down by the sidewalk and gave away hotdogs. We had a puppet show going on in the front yard. We hooked the playstation to a video projector and played video games two stories tall on the neighbor's house. We passed out popcorn, candy and cards that said "SpiritLife. We're not spooky." Met a heck of a lot of nice people.
One year, we borrowed a popsicle truck that had been rigged out with hydraulic shocks and bounced our way into neighborhood infamy. I believe the police came that year.
I think I am going to go trick or treating tonight being the poor missionary that I am. Hey the way I figure it, if I play my cards right, I could get enought Candy to last a good 6 months.
Do I see a moral dilema? Not really. I wont say trick or treat. Ill just mumble and they will give me candy.
Brent - if you go to Esther's, just keep knockin'. She's there. She's just faking it.
Yep, Brent - hey if you come all the way to New Zealand, I'll let you in (if you get past our toy poodle guard dog) and feed you proper Kiwi tucker. Sit outside and look at the ocean with the dolphins and Orca whales going by... Dr Mills is planning a trip in April, if you want to come along. He might let you carry his bags. You might have to preach...
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