Halloween Frights
I passed by a church on my way home this afternoon and saw one of those huge inflatable bounce rooms out in the parking lot and a gaggle of children running here and there. The church's marquee called it a "Harvest Festival." This is the second such "festival" I've seen around this area this week, the other being at another church down the road which was scheduled for the day of Halloween. I noticed too that these churches are very careful not to call them "Halloween parties." They're always "Fall Festivals" or "Harvest Festivals" or "Autumn Children's Fairs" and the like. These churches are attempting to provide an "alternative" to Halloween, much as creationists try to provide an "alternative" to science. Come on over kids, enjoy the fun, but whatever you do, pay no attention to what the rest of the world is doing; they're all damn sinners.
What is this terror Christians have for Halloween? Do they not realize it's a Christian holiday? There seems to be an underlying fear for them that Halloween is attached at the hip to Satan, devils, witches and other fantasies of evil. These people actually believe that Halloween presents a threat to their beliefs, I think. A threat, because if a child succumbs to Satan-worship or witchcraft or any other such nonsense, they will lose their place in heaven. That's really what it boils down to, I think. There is a generation of white, middle-class, suburban Christians who live in such utter terror of their own god that the worst possible thing that could happen would be for their own children to lose faith or take on some competing religious system. Just think about that for a minute. These are grown men and women, many with college educations, who truly believe that if a person dresses up as a witch or a devil or what have you that he runs the risk of falling under the power of supernatural forces that, furthermore, will steer him away from God, at which point God will have to send them to hell.
That's why they fear Halloween. Halloween is one of the last vestiges of the ancient traditions and presents a mythology that doesn't quite fit in with the standard American view of Christianity. For people brainwashed into superstition who cower in fear at their own beloved deity, it's not hard to see why talk of vampires and skeletons gets them in a cold sweat. The most ironic part, of course, is that these people happily worship a being who is capable of sending people to hell, even people they love. They're perfectly willing to accept that. I guess when you can swallow that, things that go bump in the night aren't too far-fetched, and they would tend to present a "real" threat.
So, we now have children who will grow up never knowing what Halloween is really like. They'll be confined to these white-washed, sanitized, completely safe and adventure-free "Fall Festivals," where there is no mention of the devil or witches or putting on costumes or telling creepy stories. All because their parents are mortified that their children will be exposed to something other than the horseshit they venerate from the Bible. Our entire nation seems to be gripped in this fear. Parents desperate to keep their kids away from "bad" things, to keep them pure and in line with the Bible. It must be a tough job. In a media-satured culture like ours, you almost can't avoid bumping into influences that challenge your beliefs. That's as it should be. But is it any wonder this country is so uptight and angry? It is, I think, at least partially due to the fact that millions of parents around the country are fighting a losing battle, attempting to keep their kids away from "bad influences." It's like trying to drain the ocean with a bucket; no matter how much you dump out, more will roll in to take its place. These parents are so scared of what will happen to their children in the afterlife that they don't let them have a "nowlife." This, in turn, creates emotionally underdeveloped kids, kids who act out when they become teenagers, who experiment with things that were always forbidden in their childhoods.
If only we could all agree that things like devils and demons don't exist, that they're not a threat. Halloween is harmless. What is harmful is the continued belief in religions that teach such horrible things as hell for the unbelievers. Those are the mythologies we should be afraid of, not because they might be true but because of the incredible social and emotional damage they can cause. And as parents drown in this fear, church leaders console them by telling them they're doing the right thing, all the while reaping the benefits of a willing flock, a mindless collective of tithe-givers whose anxieties give the church more power, more ability to shape social policy. And it always seems to start with the children, religion's favorite pawns.
Let's stop being scared of Halloween. Let's start examining the things that really scare us, things that scare us into doing and thinking outlandish things. Everything in our culture is a human construct. We have nothing to fear but ourselves.
What is this terror Christians have for Halloween? Do they not realize it's a Christian holiday? There seems to be an underlying fear for them that Halloween is attached at the hip to Satan, devils, witches and other fantasies of evil. These people actually believe that Halloween presents a threat to their beliefs, I think. A threat, because if a child succumbs to Satan-worship or witchcraft or any other such nonsense, they will lose their place in heaven. That's really what it boils down to, I think. There is a generation of white, middle-class, suburban Christians who live in such utter terror of their own god that the worst possible thing that could happen would be for their own children to lose faith or take on some competing religious system. Just think about that for a minute. These are grown men and women, many with college educations, who truly believe that if a person dresses up as a witch or a devil or what have you that he runs the risk of falling under the power of supernatural forces that, furthermore, will steer him away from God, at which point God will have to send them to hell.
That's why they fear Halloween. Halloween is one of the last vestiges of the ancient traditions and presents a mythology that doesn't quite fit in with the standard American view of Christianity. For people brainwashed into superstition who cower in fear at their own beloved deity, it's not hard to see why talk of vampires and skeletons gets them in a cold sweat. The most ironic part, of course, is that these people happily worship a being who is capable of sending people to hell, even people they love. They're perfectly willing to accept that. I guess when you can swallow that, things that go bump in the night aren't too far-fetched, and they would tend to present a "real" threat.
So, we now have children who will grow up never knowing what Halloween is really like. They'll be confined to these white-washed, sanitized, completely safe and adventure-free "Fall Festivals," where there is no mention of the devil or witches or putting on costumes or telling creepy stories. All because their parents are mortified that their children will be exposed to something other than the horseshit they venerate from the Bible. Our entire nation seems to be gripped in this fear. Parents desperate to keep their kids away from "bad" things, to keep them pure and in line with the Bible. It must be a tough job. In a media-satured culture like ours, you almost can't avoid bumping into influences that challenge your beliefs. That's as it should be. But is it any wonder this country is so uptight and angry? It is, I think, at least partially due to the fact that millions of parents around the country are fighting a losing battle, attempting to keep their kids away from "bad influences." It's like trying to drain the ocean with a bucket; no matter how much you dump out, more will roll in to take its place. These parents are so scared of what will happen to their children in the afterlife that they don't let them have a "nowlife." This, in turn, creates emotionally underdeveloped kids, kids who act out when they become teenagers, who experiment with things that were always forbidden in their childhoods.
If only we could all agree that things like devils and demons don't exist, that they're not a threat. Halloween is harmless. What is harmful is the continued belief in religions that teach such horrible things as hell for the unbelievers. Those are the mythologies we should be afraid of, not because they might be true but because of the incredible social and emotional damage they can cause. And as parents drown in this fear, church leaders console them by telling them they're doing the right thing, all the while reaping the benefits of a willing flock, a mindless collective of tithe-givers whose anxieties give the church more power, more ability to shape social policy. And it always seems to start with the children, religion's favorite pawns.
Let's stop being scared of Halloween. Let's start examining the things that really scare us, things that scare us into doing and thinking outlandish things. Everything in our culture is a human construct. We have nothing to fear but ourselves.