Christians who don't believe in participating in Halloween?

Question

Isn't your kid just asking to be picked on in school for not joining in?

Answer 1

I don't particularly care for it, but I don't feel that is so important that I have to get bent out of shape about it.  If you want to participate, then go ahead.  There are plenty of sensible, harmless ways of having fun on that evening.  I allowed my kids to participate, and they still seem okay.

Answer 2

Not necessarily, as it is an after school activity, and where we live, kids are bussed pretty far to school from different directions.  However if it is a class activity, that is something else. Since it is controversial, I think more and more schools don't have it as a class activity.

Personally I understand why parents would not want their kids to participate, although with age I have mellowed somewhat on the subject - I don't think most participants are stopping to think of some historical or spiritual significance, they are just having a good time. I would still strongly encourage close supervision though.

EDIT:

What I find sad is that there is so much bigotry and so little tolerance today. If a family doens't participate in some social activity, everyone else feels they must make a big thing of it, accusing them of cultism or whatever.  And yet in cities today, we have people of so many religions living together. Will we end up killing one another unless the others participate in "our" special holidays?

Edit again:

Are you implying that kids from families who have religious objections to celebrating Halowe'en should be relegated to private schools? Is it "Conform or else!"?

Answer 3

My mom was christian growing up. I got to dress up for Halloween, but only as a cat or a faerie princess or something.

It was fun when I was really little, but it got old after a while. I'm going to do an "evil" costume this year.

[Why have halloween in schools when christmas,easter,and thanksgiving are being forced out of schools and public life. ]

If that's true, then why do we still have christmas and thanksgiving plays in most schools? Why the decorations and parties?

Answer 4

there's nothing wrong with halloween, it is a pagan holiday such as easter and christmas...

Answer 5

Elementary grades they do lol, ive seen it with my own eyes.

Answer 6

No, I don't celebrate Halloween, nor would I let my kids celebrate it if I have any.

As far as them being picked on, that's really stupid and ignorant to even give a thought to that. Not like it should dictate how you raise your kids as parents.

Answer 7

They says that Halloween is a Pagan holiday. Well, so is Christmas (Yule).

Answer 8

What about Jews who don't celebrate Christmas? How about a Jehovah's Witness that doesn't celebrate anything?

Answer 9

picked on in school...we never celebrated it as a child growing up and i was never picked on.  i am still a christian today however i allow my children to go to fall festivals at church and go trick or treating for candy.  i do not allow them them to dress as devils or anything evil.  

Answer 10

no

why would that be asking to be picked on?

Maybe its becasue parents do not teach their children to respect others?

Answer 11

No.  Not any more than one would be picked on for not following the crowd over a cliff.

Besides children who have a strong family background in Christ are generally secure enough not to be bothered by such trivial matters.  (I guess you'd have to have been in the situations and settings to understand not being so insecure that stuff people say doesn't phase you.)

Many have marched to the beat of a different drum; they often find each other.

x

Answer 12

theyll be picked on after eating all that sugary c**p and getting to be 500 pounds by the age of 18 and believing in the craft of witch burning.

not that im a christian, or against halloween mostly.

Answer 13

OMG I BET UR CATHOLiC.

CHRITSIANS DAT DONT CELEBRATE HALL0WEN ARE PRETTY SMART

HALL0WEN IS DA DEViLS BiRTHDAY OR s****.>
TOLD DAT ITS HIS NIGHT DATS WHY EVERYTHING BAD HAPPENEDS ON HALL)WEEN THEE KiLLiN OR WATEVER iT MAY BE ITS A SINFUL HOLIDAY FOR  UNGODLY PE0PLE..

AND WHEN I SEE PEOPLE DREESIN UP IN WICHES AND DEVLS

I LAUGH CUZ ITS ALL WICKED THINGS JUST LIKE HOW THE LORD SAID THEY ARE AND HE CONDEMS DAT..

Answer 14

i didn't participate when i was younger and i didn't get picked on. and that wasn't long ago.

also, if my kid gets picked on by other kids..then they were taught to pick on others from their parents. and i dont care what they other kids think...their not my kids.

Answer 15

We don't celebrate Halloween.  We see it as "dress up for candy night".  

Why would I care what others think?  I teach my children the same set of mind.

Answer 16

I grew up in a Catholic household and celebrated Halloween.  It is still in my top two favorite holidays.

Last year my Catholic Church had a Halloween Service for the kids.  They came in costume and heard a brief talk about the origins of the holiday (Catholics acknowledge the pagan origins of many holidays, by the way - more on that in a minute), received a blessing and some candy.  I thought it was a very cool thing to do.

As to the pagan origins of Christmas - yes, Jesus was born in the spring.  His birthday was celebrated in winter to coincide it with the celebration of the winter solstice so as to hide it from those who would persecute them for believing in Jesus.  Easter coincides with the Spring Solstice.  Many Christian traditions have pagan traditions melded in, and it was done for the purpose of making the transition from paganism to Christianity a little easier for everyone.

Halloween has pagan roots, yes, and it's okay that we know about them.  But the holiday has evolved so much over the centuries that there is no reason to keep your child from participating, just call it "dress up day" and stay away from scary costumes, if that be your problem.

Answer 17

LOL, all those holidays are pagan even the traditions of Christmas. Jesus was born in the spring.

Halloween is not bad, as long as you dont worship satan..

Answer 18

Yes, and lack of participation in a secular holiday like Halloween is absurd, it's like avoiding labor day or independence day, especially if you still participate in Christmas as a christian.  Halloween is as divorced from its pagan roots as Christmas is from its early pagan roots. Halloween just became secular and Christmas became a religious holiday. The vilification of Halloween is relatively new, there was *NO* protest against it in centuries past. I think the current backlash from the christian fundamentalist and evangelical communities comes from the resurgence of paganism and their adoption of the holiday as one of import.

Answer 19

Well I don't have a kid so that answer would be N/A.

Also, I think it's a creepy holiday anyway. Well, except for the cheap prices on midnight Halloween candy. It's the only time when I can get candy corn and candy pumpkins for a really affordable price.

Other than the half-off fall-themed candies, I don't see a point in celebrating Halloween. It's creepy and demonistic!

Answer 20

Halloween isn't even a religious thing anymore, it's just a day for kids to have fun dressing up and getting free candy.  I don't understand why some super religios parents don't let thier kids have fun.  It makes me so mad.  

Answer 21

Absolutely.  I went through that same nonsense as a child cause my uppidy christian mother thought it was a sin to celebrate halloween.  Here is a thought.  If you don't like what the holiday stands for then let your child dress up but limit his ideas.  No devils, or goblins, or satanic creatures.  Give him or her other options like soldiers or doctors.  Let your child be a child.  

Answer 22

Why do atheists celebrate christmas and easter?

Halloween is the promotion of evil that christians have no connection with.

Why have halloween in schools when christmas,easter,and thanksgiving are being forced out of schools and public life.

Who did the Pilgrams give thanks to?

Answer 23

dude as long as u don't commit a sin it's all good.

haha.

and well just have fun you've only got a few more years left to live!

hah

(no implication that the world ends in 2012 cause it won't!)

Answer 24

Like someone said already Halloween isn't religious anymore but it is a Christian holiday anyway. All Hallows Eve means All Saints Eve. Just google All Saints Day!

Edit: What ever happened to churches having Halloween parties? My parents generation would think it was ridiculous if someone suggested Halloween was evil!

Answer 25

kids get picked on for everything.

it doesn't make you less of a person

if you don't participate in halloween

Answer 26

Yeah, cause we all know that peer pressure should be the deciding factor in making decisions for our families

Answer 27

I'm a Christian and I have always participated in Halloween. There's nothing wrong with putting on a costume and asking people for candy (as long as you know they're not going to stick needles in them or poison them..)    The only problem with halloween for a Christian is if the person believes what was believed by the people who created the holiday.  This is it's origin..

"The Celts, who lived 2,000 years ago in the area that is now Ireland, the United Kingdom, and northern France, celebrated their new year on November 1. This day marked the end of summer and the harvest and the beginning of the dark, cold winter, a time of year that was often associated with human death. Celts believed that on the night before the new year, the boundary between the worlds of the living and the dead became blurred. On the night of October 31, they celebrated Samhain, when it was believed that the ghosts of the dead returned to earth. In addition to causing trouble and damaging crops, Celts thought that the presence of the otherworldly spirits made it easier for the Druids, or Celtic priests, to make predictions about the future. For a people entirely dependent on the volatile natural world, these prophecies were an important source of comfort and direction during the long, dark winter.    To commemorate the event, Druids built huge sacred bonfires, where the people gathered to burn crops and animals as sacrifices to the Celtic deities.

During the celebration, the Celts wore costumes, typically consisting of animal heads and skins, and attempted to tell each other's fortunes. When the celebration was over, they re-lit their hearth fires, which they had extinguished earlier that evening, from the sacred bonfire to help protect them during the coming winter.

By A.D. 43, Romans had conquered the majority of Celtic territory. In the course of the four hundred years that they ruled the Celtic lands, two festivals of Roman origin were combined with the traditional Celtic celebration of Samhain.

The first was Feralia, a day in late October when the Romans traditionally commemorated the passing of the dead. The second was a day to honor Pomona, the Roman goddess of fruit and trees. The symbol of Pomona is the apple and the incorporation of this celebration into Samhain probably explains the tradition of "bobbing" for apples that is practiced today on Halloween.

By the 800s, the influence of Christianity had spread into Celtic lands. In the seventh century, Pope Boniface IV designated November 1 All Saints' Day, a time to honor saints and martyrs. It is widely believed today that the pope was attempting to replace the Celtic festival of the dead with a related, but church-sanctioned holiday. The celebration was also called All-hallows or All-hallowmas (from Middle English Alholowmesse meaning All Saints' Day) and the night before it, the night of Samhain, began to be called All-hallows Eve and, eventually, Halloween. Even later, in A.D. 1000, the church would make November 2 All Souls' Day, a day to honor the dead. It was celebrated similarly to Samhain, with big bonfires, parades, and dressing up in costumes as saints, angels, and devils. Together, the three celebrations, the eve of All Saints', All Saints', and All Souls', were called Hallowmas."

I would say, if a Christian is trying to tell peoples fortune by contacting evil spirits, or sacrificing animals or anything else the ancient celts did, that would be a problem. But not just on halloween..it's a problem any day...

God made all the stars, all the planets and ALL the days. They are all His. No one can take them from the palm of His hand. As long as you aren't worshipping other Gods, you're okay.    Most kids who don't participate in Halloween are kinda asking to be picked on. There was a Jahovahs Witness at my school who wouldn't stand for Oh Canada, but no one picked on her..  The other kids would have to have an understanding of why s/he isn't participating and how important it is to that person..

Answer 28

I'm a christian and i celebrate halloween. but the picked on thing doesn't matter to any of us. the bible says "do not conform to the patterns of this world" we dont care what you think of us  making fun of us is pointless

Answer 29

yeah. your 100% right. they are just asking to be picked on. when i was young i went to school with someone like that. his name was jack :) anyway, his parents well mostly his mom believed that halloween was worshiping the devil. when i heard that i actually laughed because its some litte holiday to get candy?

Answer 30

I am a christian, but i do participate in Halloween, i think it's fun to dress up and go get free candy ;)

Answer 31

I was raised in a strict Catholic home and we celebrated Halloween. Then again, nowadays there are some pretty cult-like Christian groups out there. I feel bad for their kids. It's about costumes and candy...what's the big deal?