{"id":96266,"date":"2012-10-31T12:34:18","date_gmt":"2012-10-31T16:34:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/getreligion\/?p=96266"},"modified":"2012-10-31T12:34:18","modified_gmt":"2012-10-31T16:34:18","slug":"halloween-trick-or-treat-for-christians","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/getreligion\/2012\/10\/halloween-trick-or-treat-for-christians\/","title":{"rendered":"Halloween: trick or treat for Christians?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

<\/iframe>In yet another case of liberal bias by GetReligion, tmatt <a href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/getreligion\/2012\/10\/boooo-one-side-story-praising-halloween-evangelism\/\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\">screamed \u201cBoooo!\u201d<\/a> the other day at a one-sided story praising Halloween evangelism.<\/p>\nI <a href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/getreligion\/2012\/10\/boooo-one-side-story-praising-halloween-evangelism\/#comments\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\">chimed in<\/a> with a comment noting that in my Associated Press days I did a <a href=\"http:\/\/jacksonville.com\/tu-online\/apnews\/stories\/102902\/D7MVCMDG0.html\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">\u201chell house\u201d story<\/a> and included both sides \u2014 long before <a href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/getreligion\/why-were-here\/\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\">GR-style ghostbusting<\/a> became a ghastly gleam in the Internet\u2019s eye.<\/p>\nSince it\u2019s Halloween, I thought I\u2019d highlight a couple of stories reporting on how some Christians deal with the holiday\u2019s pagan roots. Before I do, I want to be sure to give a hat\u00a0tip \u2014 <a href=\"http:\/\/www.ahappydeal.com\/product-93828.html\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">pumpkin hat<\/a>,\u00a0that is \u2014 to Religion News Service for the above video, which RNS included in its <a href=\"http:\/\/www.religionnews.com\/culture\/arts-and-media\/wednesdays-religion-news-roundup-halloweens-real-message.-saint-james-bond\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">daily e-mail today.<\/a><\/p>\nThe first story was written by Taya Flores, a reporter for the Journal & Courier<\/em> in Lafayette, Ind. Flores does a nice job of taking what could be a yawner of an annual story and making it <a href=\"http:\/\/www.jconline.com\/article\/20121028\/LIFE07\/310280029\/Halloween-summons-spiritual-controversy-as-some-faiths-frown-on-celebrations?odyssey=tab%7Ctopnews%7Ctext%7CFRONTPAGE\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">interesting reading.<\/a> The top of the story:<\/p>\n<blockquote>Heather Salemink of Lafayette has celebrated Halloween since childhood. She can recall dressing in costume and her dad decorating the house.<\/p>\nSo even as a Christian, she never questioned whether her children would celebrate the holiday, too.<\/p>\n\u201cKids need opportunities to imagine themselves in different worlds,\u201d said Salemink, 34. \u201cIt\u2019s really kind of fun to watch them explore different parts of the world through their imagination. In Christianity, there is so much that requires belief in things that you can\u2019t see.\u201d<\/p>\nBut not all religious groups approach Halloween with such ease and excitement. Controversy still surrounds the holiday, which has origins in ancient Celtic spiritualism.<\/p><\/blockquote>\nHonestly, I\u2019m not a big fan of anecdotal ledes that start with someone who does not fit the theme of the story. In other words, if the story is about people who don\u2019t approach Halloween with ease and excitement, begin the story with one of them, not with somebody who has no problem with Halloween.<\/p>\nNonetheless, there\u2019s much to like about this story. The writer provides historical background, quotes experts and pastors and even includes other faiths besides Christianity:<\/p>\n<blockquote>Other religions may shy away from the holiday as well. Traditionally, Muslims do not approve of Halloween either.<\/p>\n\u201cHalloween, because it has pagan roots and traditions, is not something Islam will approve for its followers,\u201d said Aurangzeb, president of the Purdue Muslim Student Association.<\/p>\nThere\u2019s variance among Jewish believers.\u00a0Daniel Frank, director of the Jewish Studies Program and professor of philosophy at Purdue University, said from a traditional point of view, Jews are not supposed to celebrate non-Jewish festivals, whether it be pagan or Christian.<\/p>\nHowever, some conservative and reformed Jews may celebrate Halloween as a cultural holiday.<\/p>\n\u201cOrthodox Jews as a typical rule don\u2019t celebrate Halloween,\u201d said\u00a0Nora Rubel, assistant professor of religion at the\u00a0University of Rochester\u00a0in New York. \u201cConservative and reformed Jews can, but it\u2019s left to the individual family. It\u2019s not just the pagan roots that bother Orthodox Jews but also the Christian roots.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.religionlink.com\/tip_091020.php\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">No pagans<\/a> are quoted, however.<\/p>\nThe other story was written by Tim Townsend, religion writer for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.\u00a0<\/em><a href=\"http:\/\/www.stltoday.com\/lifestyles\/faith-and-values\/churches-in-st-louis-area-use-halloween-s-pagan-roots\/article_9047ce42-7431-51ab-97b4-0fe298df0ade.html\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">Townsend\u2019s piece<\/a> focuses on St. Louis-area churches using Halloween\u2019s pagan roots to grow their flocks. The top of the story:<\/p>\n<blockquote>DES PERES<\/strong>\u00a0\u2014 Jason and Stacey Leeker grew up going door to door on Halloween night, collecting candy in costumes. But after the couple dedicated their lives to their Christian faith, they decided they would shield their own children from Halloween\u2019s pagan roots.<\/p>\nLast Saturday evening, the Leekers and their three children ventured out to Faith Des Peres Presbyterian Church\u2019s trunk-or-treat party.<\/p>\nTrunk-or-treats \u2014 Halloween tailgating parties, with kids going from car trunk to car trunk \u2014 are an increasingly popular alternative for schools, churches and community groups to traditional doorbell trick-or-treating.<\/p>\nFor the Leekers, the church atmosphere provided a safe Halloween outing where they could give their 5- and 3-year-old a taste of the holiday\u2019s fun.<\/p><\/blockquote>\nLike the Indiana story, the Post-Dispatch<\/em> report provides historical context:<\/p>\n<blockquote>Jack Santino, a professor of folklore at Bowling Green State University in Ohio, has written that Halloween has its origins in a pastoral festival called Samhain (pronounced sah-ween). Throughout Europe, it was the biggest festival of the Celtic calendar, and a celebration of the end of harvest and the beginning of winter.<\/p>\nThe Celtic people believed that during Samhain, the souls of those who had died during the year \u201ctraveled into the otherworld,\u201d Santino wrote, and \u201ctheir ghosts were able to mingle with the living.\u201d<\/p>\nThey lit bonfires to honor the dead, \u201cto aid them on their journey and to keep them away from the living.\u201d Early missionaries appropriated many pagan rituals and subtly transformed them into Christian rituals.<\/p><\/blockquote>\nLike a trick-or-treat bag full of candy, Townsend\u2019s story brims with specific details from trunk-or-treat events that he obviously visited firsthand.<\/p>\nIf the story lacks anything, it\u2019s a perspective on how mainstream Halloween has become in churches and whether many still resist the holiday. That\u2019s a minor criticism, however, because I think the report\u2019s strong focus on a specific phenomenon \u2014 trunk-or-treats \u2014 gives it a newsy, journalistic edge.<\/p>\nYour turn, GetReligion readers: Any insights on the stories mentioned? Any links to other Halloween-related religion stories that you\u2019ve come across and your thoughts on them?<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In yet another case of liberal bias by GetReligion, tmatt screamed \u201cBoooo!\u201d the other day at a one-sided story praising Halloween evangelism. I chimed in with a comment noting that in my Associated Press days I did a \u201chell house\u201d story and included both sides \u2014 long before GR-style ghostbusting became a ghastly gleam in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":597,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27,70,12],"tags":[234,233,266,265,267,264,263],"class_list":["post-96266","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-evangelicals","category-pagans","category-religion","tag-evangelism","tag-halloween","tag-journal-and-courier","tag-st-louis-post-dispatch","tag-taya-flores","tag-tim-townsend","tag-trunk-or-treat"],"yoast_head":"\n<title>Halloween: trick or treat for Christians?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"In yet another case of liberal bias by GetReligion, tmatt screamed "Boooo!" the other day at a one-sided story praising Halloween evangelism. 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