Putting the sacred back into Halloween. Say what?

[Wonk]

(snip)

Tonight, Routh will take her children to First Baptist Church of Brandon for its Noah's Arkcade event. Dressed as characters from Bob the Builder, they will play games and win treats with dozens of other children who also are forgoing the usual holiday trappings of candy collecting and haunted houses.

While devilish costumes and creepy themes still rule on Halloween, a growing movement seeks to zap the demons out of the holiday, and much of it appears to be church-based.

Instead of trick-or-treating, Tampa Bay residents can take their kids to a Hallelujah Party, God's Harvest Festival and a Country Jamboree. Also, a host of fall festivals do not require costumes, and in most cases, do not mention goblins.

The increasing number of Halloween alternatives is the latest in the ongoing religious battle over the holidays, said Dell deChant, a religious studies instructor at the University of South Florida. The reason? The growing commercialism of Halloween.

"There are so many people who are celebrating Halloween in public ways," he said, "that it has mobilized the religious resistance."

more...

http://www.sptimes.com//2003/10/31/Tampabay/From_scared_to_sacred.shtml

I like this link better :-)
http://www.landoverbaptist.org/subjectarchive/halloween.html

Happy Samhain everybody!

[htuttle]

1. Happy Samhain! Happy New Year!

:hi:

It's been an awful long time since me and the missus danced naked in the moonlight on Samhain, but we still do it in spirit every year!

[MrBadExample]

11. Not for me.

I'll take a pass on the naked-moonlight-dancing. It's thirty degrees out with freezing drizzle here. :)

[texastoast]

2. Happy New Year!!

There should be a fine waxing moon out tonight (suitable for dancing). Everyone have a great, safe, spiritual holiday!

[Andy_Stephenson]

3. Praise Mithra

glory to Ghosts and a Happy Halloween to one and all.

My costume this year.....

I am going as a black box...what else? Thise are scarier than anyother old monster I know of.

[Wonk]

12. Nice choice of costume :-)

[ulysses]

16. LOL!

Blinky the Very Nice Dog is back! :D

[DarkPhenyx]

4. Happy New Year to everyone

and a blessed Samhain!

May the God and Goddess smile on you and yours in the coming year.

*starting to sing* Oh, give me that 'Ole Time Religion...give em that 'Ole Time Religion...Give me that 'Ole Tiem Religion...and bonfire to dance 'round.

[DarkPhenyx]

5. On a serious note.

Thsi part is jsut frightening to me. Being a nice little Wiccan myself I'm wondering if I need to go armed this year. Every day I find a new reason to be happy I have my CCP.





For many Christians, Halloween is a confusing holiday. It began as a pagan event in which spirits of the dead were believed to roam the Earth. It later evolved into a prelude to Christianity's All Saints Day on Nov. 1.

I wonder if anyone has told them that Christmas started out as a pagan holiday as well.

[sleipnir]

6. Or almost all of the religious holidays

They were overlaid onto the pagan/Roman holidays back in the day to increase the popularity. Easter is the same way. Then again, almost all cultures regardless of the past have the smae basic dates for holidays, they just choose to celebrate different ideals and beliefs.

[VelmaD]

7. Should we light a candle...

and chant for that man to get a new toupee? :-)

Bright Blessings to all.

[kiahzero]

8. Happy Samhain...

May this year be better than the last.

Blessed be

[Kool Kitty]

9. Happy Samhain to all.

May we all enjoy another year in safety and harmony. I give thanks for bringing us safely around the Sun yet another time. Merry meet and merry part and merry meet again.

[kyrasdad]

10. Samhain

Bright Blessings to all this Samhain... The altar is set, the bread is baked, the yard is dressed, the candy is out, and I'm off to my cauldron in the front yard to scare the hell outta the neighborhood kids. Then after trick or treating is all over... It's my time...

Blessed be to all, and especially to those spirits on thier journeys this night...

[Colin Ex]

13. Marty Beckerman did something on this.

http://www.martybeckerman.com/halloween.html

Woo.

-C

[mumon]

14. NOTHING disgusts me more than this!

First of all, these people are completely full of feces:

http://www.beliefnet.com/story/47/story_4771_1.html

Secondly, this is fascist theocratic political correctness run amok.

Halloween's about FUN for kids. Kids like to pretend to be scary. They get candy. They friggin' love it, and they look cute as little skeletons & goblins, & ghosts!

"There are so many people who are celebrating Halloween in public ways," he said, "that it has mobilized the religious resistance."

IOW, people are having fun, and these sh*theads hate nothing more than people having fun!!

The real problem with these folks is they like masturbating, and are too f*cked up to admit it.

[mumon]

17. sorry folks, it's that time of year.

:kick:

[ulysses]

15. taking everything of interest out of childhood, more like.

:grr: