God hates Halloween

[knife_fight]

so, there is no way there hasn't been a thread about this already, but....

I got into a discussion over in another forum about why there is a decline in the practice of trick-or-treating. I said that I felt that it was b/c, over the past ten years or so, I seem to have noticed the religious right is attempting to ban Halloween. most of the churches around here preach against Halloween (as in, telling parents not to let their children participate). and if they don't do that, they at least offer a kind of "Halloween Alternative" like a Fall Festival or something, minus scary costumes or haunted houses or anything even remotely devilish. some, as I'm sure some of you know, offer "Christian Haunted Houses" (see the documentary "Hell House"), whose basic purpose is to try and scare folks into accepting Christianity as their main spiritual focus.
In fact, just yesterday I had a bus (a bus!) pull into my apartment complex and dropped off about 2 dozen "young adults" armed with pamphlets detailing the supposed inherent evil of my favorite holiday, Halloween.

Now, I'm not a complete idiot. I am familiar with the pagan origins of Halloween (not that I give a shit).... but I am also just as familiar with the pagan origins of Christmas and Easter.

so, what I'm asking is this: do you think the decline in trick-or-treating is to be blamed on the right-wingers? or have you not really noticed any sort of decline? or do you just want to comment on this silliness?

[bloodrayne]

My opinion?...If they don't like it, they don't have to participate...They can stay home, NOT dress up, NOT trick-or-treat, they can even go to church if they want to...


BUT...They need to leave the REST of us the hell alone.....I'm not going to THEIR houses and telling them why I think they SHOULD do the 'Halloween Thing'...And they should AT LEAST have the same respect for ME...


ANY form of pushing yourself, your beliefs, and whatever else on other people, just makes a person an asshole.....That's MY opinion...

[knife_fight]

I agree

[filmmaker2]

I have jack-o-lantern pumpkins all over my house right now, and I have cute little zombies and I have my Halloween sound effects records out, and I will get huge bags of candy and rubber spiders for EVERYONE! Halloween is the best durn thing in the world.

[filmmaker2]

Okay, well, okay. The SECOND best thing in the world. ;)

[The STE]

9/10 times, if they have pamphlets, then they're gonna try and push a bunch of bullshit on you.

[DarkwingMantis]

Okay so I was in Walmart (despite the court order) and was surprised that the Christmas stuff had already been put on display IN WITH THE HALLOWEEN crap! I remember when Halloween was halloween and Santa wasnt sticking his nose up its ass.... HOW LONG DOES IT TAKE CHRISTIANS TO SHOP!!!! Xmas has become a beast that cannot be fed taking up more and more of the calendar for itself, pretty soon youll be able to sit on santas lap AND the easter bunnnies in the SAME FUCKING TRIP!

[The STE]

Originally posted by DarkwingMantis
HOW LONG DOES IT TAKE CHRISTIANS TO SHOP!!!!

Not NEARLY as long as it takes Jews to shop. No wonder Haunika's 8 days long...

[novakru]

According to the God I got brainwashed with as a child-God hates everything and if you even have one dirty thought -your going to Hell.
So,I'll being seeing you guys there:)

[ItsAlive75]

I dunno if its like this where y'all live, but the curfew for trick or treating is 8 o'clock now.

How lame is it being a kid and wearing your spooky devil costume at 7 o'clock?? That's... that's fuckin DUSK! (or an hour afterwards)

I'm just glad I got to celebrate it in my heyday.

[Despare]

Ok, here's the thing. I'm a Christian but I LOVE horror and Halloween, I'm non-demonitional and I've been to hundreds of churches none of which has had a problem with Halloween, I think you're looking for people who are against and we all know if you look you'll find. The people who ARE against it though have EVERY right to be against it, I mean nobody has a problem with the fact that people protest Christmas. You can't even put a nativity scene out or say Merry Christmas it has to be "Happy Holidays" instead but nobody says "If they don't like it they can ignore it.". I don't know, just how I feel if you don't like it not much I can do about that.

[knife_fight]

if you are non-denominational, then I assume you go to non-denominational churches. non-denom. churches are almost, by definition, more liberal than others. I was raised in church, in the south, so I guess I am certainly (and obviously) talking about the more stern of the Christian faith (as in, Southern Baptists, Church of Christ, etc.).

also, it's funny to me how the more aggressive the church is religiously, the more aggressive their "Halloween Alternative" is. for example, a lot of the Southern Baptist churches around here have meek little "Fall Festivals". but then the more "charismatic" denominations, such as Church of God or Assembly of God, are more likely to have the "Christian Haunted Houses."

and you don't really see people having "Christmas Alternatives" like a "Winter Festival" or a "Pagan Santa Claus" (a redundancy, anyway). plus, I can't remember the last time a busload of wiccans came to my neighborhood to hand out pamphlets on the evils of Christmas or Easter.

[Despare]

Nope, there are no real nondenom out here. I've been to Seventh Day Adventist, Baptist, Nazareen, Luthern, Catholic (grrr...), Penticostal (wth...), Prodestant (only spelled right), and more. Anyway, I do know people who celebrate Winter Solstice and a lot of other "Christmas Alternatives" but hey, like I said it's all my opinion and you know what they say about opinions.

[noctuary]

This irritates me to no end. When I was a kid, for me and my friends would look forward to Halloween for at least a month prior. Everyone would compete to have the scariest costume, see who could get the most candy, etc... When I was a little older, the haunted houses became a big part of it too.

Nowadays, there are none in my area. There's a lot of religious-themed nonsense that strategically avoids the use of the word "Halloween." The costumes now are wimpy. For a lark, I checked out the costumes at WalMart the other day, and they were all stuff like clowns and cats. Any one of us would have been beaten up if we had dressed up as a cat. It's so sad. Today's kids are getting shafted.

[Despare]

We have a Gags & Gifts/Halloween USA here, got my Michael Meyers "replica mask" there... hope they have a Toxie one because this year I want to bring a mop to parties.

[filmmaker2]

I went to a cool haunted house put on by the local Y, and it was great, all home-made for the most part, everything built by hand, and my group was led through by a cute chick in a little red devil costume......she had the horns, and the teeny pointed tail, and a short red devil skirt cut with a jagged edge on the bottom. What was the question again?

[The STE]

Originally posted by filmmaker2
What was the question again?

"How many fingers am I holding up?"

[AUSTIN316426808]

I personally think it's moronic to push beliefs on people, say what you gotta say then if I don't like what you're selling stop flappin your gums and leave me alone. I'm going to celebrate it this year the same way I do every year and as many years to come as I like. If I'm going to hell for the harmless stuff I do on Halloween then so be it.

[meetthecreeper]

Well I have to say what irritates me about Halloween is the specific times that they allow "Trick or Treating" especially if it is on a weeknight.

Oh you can trick or treat from 5pm to 630pm and then if you are out after that a fucking SWAT team swoops in grabs your bag of candy and stomps it in the street.

Then they tear off your costume and set it on fire. All the while they beat your parents into submission with blackjacks and billyclubs.

And dont try to run away, they sic the fucking dogs on you.


You know what I do??? Civil disobedience.

When the cops come and they mace my 4 and 6 year olds and slap the cuffs on them, I just like to remind them how free we truly are in this country.

Seriously I take my kids out until they are tired, or my hand gets tired from pounding on peoples doors demanding candy. If the PD dont like it than they can give me a citation, which never has happened, but I'll take it and really start some shit.


Most all this bullshit started because of the Tylenol scare in the mid eighties, not because of some religiouos zealots.

[novakru]

Originally posted by trippin_the_rif
I'm Devout Roman Catholic, and I dare anyone in the religion to try and talk me out Loving the Horror of Halloween or just horror alone. I'll tell my pastor just where to put his beads.:eek:

You have nothing to worry about because if it IS a sin,you just do ten hail mary's and it's all good:D

[bloodrayne]

Originally posted by Despare
The people who ARE against it though have EVERY right to be against itI agree 100%...BUT...That doesn't give anyone the right to tell me that I should be against it.........As you say "People have a right to be against it", I say "I have a right to enjoy it"..They should extend me the same courtesy that I extend them...That's all I'm saying


If you don't like Halloween, stay home, do your own thing...But, DON'T say "I don't like Halloween, so I'm going to try to make my whole community stop participating in it"...That's just BULLSHIT

It's the same as saying "I don't like vanilla ice-cream so I'm going to form a group to make stores stop selling it"...Yes, it really IS that fucking selfish and stupid...


Originally posted by Despare
I mean nobody has a problem with the fact that people protest Christmas. You can't even put a nativity scene out or say Merry Christmas it has to be "Happy Holidays" instead but nobody says "If they don't like it they can ignore itYeah...I "have a problem" with THAT, too...Christmas should be whatever the hell a person wants it to be to them...It's nobody else's business...A nativity scene, or the word 'Christmas' isn't exactly going to cause anyone any grievious bodily harm or deep mental anguish :rolleyes:

Personally, I have seen that Christmas has become nothing more than an excuse to waste money, and a forced obligation to buy shit that no one really needs or wants, for people you don't even really like......It's a completely commercialized exercise in materialism

The 'Wonder And Joy' of Christmas actually starts in January, when the bills start coming in and you 'Wonder' how in the HELL you could have spent so much damned money, and how you're going to pay all those bills...The 'Joy' comes in July, when you have FINALLY paid for it all:rolleyes:

People just need to mind their own fucking business :mad:

[Haunted]

It's not Halloween, it's fucking Samhain...Jesus Christ, get it right!














































:D :D :D :D :D

[Despare]

I agree with Bloodrayne... live and let live. If I want to say "Merry Christmas" let me and if you want to celebrate something else do so, why should I care? I'm sure we can all agree on this board whether we're Christian, wiccan, alien, or anything else... WE LOVE HORROR.

(Oh and Christmas is way too merchandised now with a lot of people and I buy too much myself but this year I'm going to celebrate the birth of my savior, have some eggnog, and then sleep. No more super spending with me lol.)

[pinkfloyd45769]

I dont go to church, my little girl does though, and she loves horror movies. I dont think there is anything wrong with that, some probably think its bad parenting! I believe in God, but I also believe in other religions!

[The STE]

Originally posted by Haunted
It's not Halloween, it's fucking Samhain...Jesus Christ, get it right!














































:D :D :D :D :D

Hey, hey, hey! Don't take Trippin's lord's name in vain!

[Haunted]

Samhain- local god of vegetation

Jesus Christ- me or you but probably Bloodrayne

Fucking ?

[meetthecreeper]

Samhain

The time when all of us witches use our powers of necromancy.

We raise the dead and then command our legions to wreak havoc on villages. Running amuck we steal little children and take them back to our gingerbread houses and make them into stew.:rolleyes:

[filmmaker2]

We'll run amuck--




If we're too tired, we'll walk amuck--

[The STE]

Originally posted by Haunted
Samhain- local god of vegetation

Jesus Christ- me or you but probably Bloodrayne

Fucking ?

hmm?

[Zero]

Originally posted by filmmaker2
We'll run amuck--




If we're too tired, we'll walk amuck--

holy shit - that was the funniest thing I've read in weeks- thanks for a truly good laugh.

[filmmaker2]

Glad you liked it! I didn't write it, though--if you want to see the movie that came from, check out "Casino Royale" (1967)...very very funny and bizarre movie................

[novakru]

filmmaker is definitely one of the comic reliefs around here and thank god for that!!

[filmmaker2]

And whenever novakru is in here, it becomes Hotsy Totsy Town. That's right I'm talking about you missy ;) Batting your eyelashes all over the place


She steams up a thread so fast it can kill a lobster.

Watch out for her she is trouble ;)

[choptopsmyfave]

"god" -(why should I capitalize that)- may hate Halloween, but I fucking LOVE it! And I agree with bloodryne, if the jesus freaks don't like it, they can go talk to their imaginary friend :p .

[Preacher]

My opinion is Halloween is about as anti-religion now as Christmas is pro-religion.

When was the last time anyone woke up on chrimbo day and thought 'happy birthday JC'. I just think.....'where's my bloody presents.......need to start drinking again' (to relieve my headache from chrimbo eve.

[taylorsmommy]

I usually ignore these threads, but I have to put my two cents worth in.

I think the reason that most towns have a curfew these days is because of all the child molesters, etc., that are around nowadays. When I was a child (in the 60s) you were pretty safe going around to your neighborhood even without your parents. You knew everyone in your neighborhood and all the parents looked out for the kids. Also, I know at least in this area, there has been some incidents of people getting robbed when they answer the door thinking it's trick-or-treaters.

I think Halloween (Samhain for Haunted) has become extremely commercialized just like Christmas has. Usually I just stay home and watch non-stop horror movies and hand out candy to the kids that come knocking.

BTW, I'm a Christian (Lutheran) and I love horror movies and Halloween/Samhain. And I don't shove my religion down anyone's throat. To me, my religion is my own personal private business. I love my church and my Pastor and most of the congregation. As of this date, I haven't heard Pastor say one thing against Halloween/Samhain. But then, my Pastor is definitely different - he studies Reiki and Chakra Balancing and Aura Cleansing.

[meetthecreeper]

[congregation. As of this date, I haven't heard Pastor say one thing against Halloween/Samhain. But then, my Pastor is definitely different - he studies Reiki and Chakra Balancing and Aura Cleansing. [/B]

WHAT????? I am surprised the congregation hasnt brought him out and burned him at the stake for being a heretic.

My kids go to private school and they do not have Halloween. Only a Fall Festival.

My kids go to a Lutheran private school.

My lady is Catholic but thinking of converting to Buddism.

And I am a practing Witch.

Strange times around the holidays at my place. My kids know about Christianity and they know that Daddy doesnt follow that path. They are Ok with that but they are only 7 and 5. They have Samhain at home with Dad, and trick or treating too. I dont know what the big deal is.

ALthough yesterday the principal made a comment about my Misfits shirt that I was wearing when I picked them up. Guess she feels its the work of the devil. I told her everyone has their path to follow.

[novakru]

Lutherans are laid back,we do not go around burning people at the stake even if they do practice Reiki Healing(which I think is awesome BTW)....that would be the Southern Baptist.(I grew in up in That cult,so I Know)
Both my babies were baptised Lutheran,and since they have been asking lately...looks like we will be going back to church soon(sigh) but I know for a fact my church has a Halloween party planned,and no one-even the older church members,do not have a problem with Halloween or it's origins.

[The STE]

Originally posted by choptopsmyfave
"god" -(why should I capitalize that

Just grammar, nothing important.

[goregurl]

In our neighborhood, the kids get from 530 to 730 to T or T, which is total crap imo. when i was a kid we stayed out till all the porch lights were off and our feet hurt from tromping to distant areas to scavange for candy. my parents would do a super cool haunted house complete with dry ice "fog" and awesome SFX make up (thanks to my dad the artist) and the whole area would get into it.

i have no issue with ppl not celebrating halloween but, like so many other have said, keep it to yourself! there was a time when the kids who didn't go T or T were the odd ones (usually jehovas witness) but it seems times are a changing. i, personally, will always dress my minis up in the scariest costumes i can create and go begging for candy with them.

[wu ghung]

Originally posted by Haunted
Samhain- local god of vegetation

Jesus Christ- me or you but probably Bloodrayne

Fucking ?
Not one to comment on such things. But i just had to say say it..
samhain is not a god you stupid dummy. its a day. Its marked the beginning of winter you fool.. Now i said my piece carry on