{"id":2541,"date":"2011-10-31T18:11:30","date_gmt":"2011-10-31T22:11:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/community\/exploringourmatrix\/?p=2541"},"modified":"2011-10-31T18:11:30","modified_gmt":"2011-10-31T22:11:30","slug":"the-real-reason-some-christians-oppose-halloween","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2011\/10\/the-real-reason-some-christians-oppose-halloween.html","title":{"rendered":"The Real Reason Some Christians Oppose Halloween"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Internet Monk indicated that the roots of the anti-Halloween movement are in a deception<\/a>. But why was and is the nonsensical idea that children dressed in costumes are the front line of a war with the forces of evil taken seriously?<\/p>\n

I think the reason is because American Christians want<\/em> to be deceived in this way. It is a self-deception.<\/p>\n

Christians are reminded time and again by their Scriptures that they are to be at war with evil. But most American Christians are too intricately entwined with the roots of the problem, and too far away from those in need of a solution, and much too comfortable, to ever really engage evil: injustice, oppression, poverty, starvation, human trafficking, war. Tackling such real problems and offering real solutions would take a sacrificial investment of time, energy and money that most Christians in the United States are not willing to give.<\/p>\n

I think that is why so many gravitate towards treating things that are or should be non-issues as though they are Satanic ploys. It allows us to persuade ourselves that we are \u201cfighting the good fight\u201d while the real scary monsters are allowed free reign.<\/p>\n

\"\" \"\"<\/p>\n

The image on the left is what should<\/em> scare us. And because it scares us so much, we put it out of our minds and pretend the real enemy is in the image on the right, not the causes of the suffering in the image on the left.<\/p>\n

Shame on us if we do that.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Internet Monk indicated that the roots of the anti-Halloween movement are in a deception. But why was and is the nonsensical idea that children dressed in costumes are the front line of a war with the forces of evil taken seriously? I think the reason is because American Christians want to be deceived in this […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":136,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[131,139,75],"tags":[1846,2539,2585,3216,4345,5201,6559,7431,9393,10792],"class_list":["post-2541","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-christianity-religion","category-fundamentalism-religion","category-politics","tag-christianity-religion","tag-deception","tag-demonic","tag-evil","tag-halloween","tag-injustice","tag-lies","tag-mike-warnke","tag-poverty","tag-satan"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Real Reason Some Christians Oppose Halloween<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Internet Monk indicated that the roots of the anti-Halloween movement are in a deception. But why was and is the nonsensical idea that children dressed in\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2011\/10\/the-real-reason-some-christians-oppose-halloween.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Real Reason Some Christians Oppose Halloween\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Internet Monk indicated that the roots of the anti-Halloween movement are in a deception. But why was and is the nonsensical idea that children dressed in\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2011\/10\/the-real-reason-some-christians-oppose-halloween.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Religion Prof: The Blog of James F. McGrath\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/religionprof\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-10-31T22:11:30+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/ts1.mm.bing.net\/images\/thumbnail.aspx?q=1237688254884&id=43fba0ff67163000043390d30073ae60\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"James F. McGrath\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@ReligionProf\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"James F. McGrath\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2011\/10\/the-real-reason-some-christians-oppose-halloween.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2011\/10\/the-real-reason-some-christians-oppose-halloween.html\",\"name\":\"The Real Reason Some Christians Oppose Halloween\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2011-10-31T22:11:30+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2011-10-31T22:11:30+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/#\/schema\/person\/78342576667b872e3d259c153ce4c5bf\"},\"description\":\"Internet Monk indicated that the roots of the anti-Halloween movement are in a deception. But why was and is the nonsensical idea that children dressed in\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2011\/10\/the-real-reason-some-christians-oppose-halloween.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2011\/10\/the-real-reason-some-christians-oppose-halloween.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2011\/10\/the-real-reason-some-christians-oppose-halloween.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The Real Reason Some Christians Oppose Halloween\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/\",\"name\":\"Religion Prof: The Blog of James F. McGrath\",\"description\":\"The Blog of Dr. James F. McGrath, Clarence L. Goodwin Chair in New Testament Language and Literature at Butler University, Indianapolis\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/#\/schema\/person\/78342576667b872e3d259c153ce4c5bf\",\"name\":\"James F. McGrath\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/88ca096942acd474313f7ef4227a49da?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/88ca096942acd474313f7ef4227a49da?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"caption\":\"James F. McGrath\"},\"description\":\"Clarence L. Goodwin Chair in New Testament Language and Literature at Butler University in Indianapolis, Indiana, USA. BD University of London, PhD Durham University. Author of John's Apologetic Christology, The Only True God, Theology and Science Fiction, and The Burial of Jesus, as well as (with Charles Haberl of Rutgers University) the two-volume Mandaean Book of John critical edition, translation, and commentary. Also author of numerous articles (and a few science fiction short stories) and the editor or co-editor of several volumes.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3Ge8ul5\",\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/religionprof\/\",\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/jamesfmcgrath\/\",\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/jfmcgrat\/\",\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ReligionProf\",\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/religionprof\",\"https:\/\/soundcloud.com\/religionprof\",\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/James_F._McGrath\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/author\/james-f-mcgrath\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The Real Reason Some Christians Oppose Halloween","description":"Internet Monk indicated that the roots of the anti-Halloween movement are in a deception. But why was and is the nonsensical idea that children dressed in","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2011\/10\/the-real-reason-some-christians-oppose-halloween.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The Real Reason Some Christians Oppose Halloween","og_description":"Internet Monk indicated that the roots of the anti-Halloween movement are in a deception. But why was and is the nonsensical idea that children dressed in","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2011\/10\/the-real-reason-some-christians-oppose-halloween.html","og_site_name":"Religion Prof: The Blog of James F. McGrath","article_author":"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/religionprof\/","article_published_time":"2011-10-31T22:11:30+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/ts1.mm.bing.net\/images\/thumbnail.aspx?q=1237688254884&id=43fba0ff67163000043390d30073ae60"}],"author":"James F. McGrath","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@ReligionProf","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"James F. McGrath","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2011\/10\/the-real-reason-some-christians-oppose-halloween.html","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2011\/10\/the-real-reason-some-christians-oppose-halloween.html","name":"The Real Reason Some Christians Oppose Halloween","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/#website"},"datePublished":"2011-10-31T22:11:30+00:00","dateModified":"2011-10-31T22:11:30+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/#\/schema\/person\/78342576667b872e3d259c153ce4c5bf"},"description":"Internet Monk indicated that the roots of the anti-Halloween movement are in a deception. But why was and is the nonsensical idea that children dressed in","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2011\/10\/the-real-reason-some-christians-oppose-halloween.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2011\/10\/the-real-reason-some-christians-oppose-halloween.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2011\/10\/the-real-reason-some-christians-oppose-halloween.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The Real Reason Some Christians Oppose Halloween"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/","name":"Religion Prof: The Blog of James F. McGrath","description":"The Blog of Dr. James F. McGrath, Clarence L. Goodwin Chair in New Testament Language and Literature at Butler University, Indianapolis","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/#\/schema\/person\/78342576667b872e3d259c153ce4c5bf","name":"James F. McGrath","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/88ca096942acd474313f7ef4227a49da?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/88ca096942acd474313f7ef4227a49da?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","caption":"James F. McGrath"},"description":"Clarence L. Goodwin Chair in New Testament Language and Literature at Butler University in Indianapolis, Indiana, USA. BD University of London, PhD Durham University. Author of John's Apologetic Christology, The Only True God, Theology and Science Fiction, and The Burial of Jesus, as well as (with Charles Haberl of Rutgers University) the two-volume Mandaean Book of John critical edition, translation, and commentary. Also author of numerous articles (and a few science fiction short stories) and the editor or co-editor of several volumes.","sameAs":["https:\/\/amzn.to\/3Ge8ul5","http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/religionprof\/","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/jamesfmcgrath\/","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/jfmcgrat\/","https:\/\/twitter.com\/ReligionProf","http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/religionprof","https:\/\/soundcloud.com\/religionprof","https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/James_F._McGrath"],"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/author\/james-f-mcgrath"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2541","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/136"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2541"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2541\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2541"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2541"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2541"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}