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THE QUESTION
Halloween
How scary is Halloween? Is it harmless fun, devil worship or a time for spiritual reflection?
Posted by
Sally Quinn and Jon Meacham on October 30, 2007 6:26 AM
FROM THE PANEL
Consider Both Halloweens
Truly if a committee had sat down to design the Most Fun Holiday Ever, they could hardly have done better than Halloween.
Posted by Starhawk, on October 31, 2007 10:10 AM
A Missed Opportunity
At best, it's an excuse to ask total strangers for candy. At worst, it's a celebration of the mindless paganism that our ancestors wisely turned their backs on.
Posted by Charles "Chuck" Colson, on October 31, 2007 9:29 AM
From Christian Feast to $5 Billion Business
What makes Halloween scary for parents this year is not the ghosts and devils but the costumes that are being sold to pre-teen girls.
Posted by Thomas J. Reese, S.J., on October 31, 2007 8:53 AM
A Day to Celebrate Superstition?
Halloween seems to me to beg lots of questions, not least the custom of children 'trick or treating' around the streets of London, becoming an increasing nuisance.
Posted by Julia Neuberger, on October 31, 2007 5:23 AM
Does Any Sane Person Take Halloween Seriously?
We have talk of World War III, wildfires in California, record home foreclosures, and people are worried about the religious and satanic implications of Halloween?
Posted by Susan Jacoby, on October 30, 2007 9:44 AM
Why Halloween is No Fun Anymore
Halloween is no fun for me anymore. I just can’t bring myself to make fun of ghosts and goblins and devils when there is so much real horror around us.
Posted by Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite, on October 30, 2007 8:03 AM
The Many Halloweens
We were reminded that Halloween was not a Jewish holiday and as age appropriate actually learned a little about the origins of the holiday and where we as Jews differed.
Posted by Irwin Kula, on October 30, 2007 7:08 AM
Playful Terror, Ominous Terrorism
Let’s keep Halloween going! It’s scary fun, playful fright, celebrating mysterious perceptions, weirdly satisfying some needs our dailiness obscures.
Posted by Willis E. Elliott, on October 30, 2007 6:29 AM
Hallowe'en
When Christians and Jews over-react to phenomena like this, they show more about their outlook--prissy, aggrieved, defensive--than about actual challenges to faith.
Posted by Martin Marty, on October 28, 2007 2:40 PM
FEATURED COMMENTS
victoria: why dont pagans ever talk about their beliefs or practices?
it seems like samhain would be the perfect time
to share your faith with us
...
Athena: "One assumes, however, that this is a Pagan's biggest holyday calling up the demons of the demented in all sorts of satanic rituals."
One w...
Concerned The Christian Now Liberated: "Halloween originated from the Pagan festival Samhain, celebrated among the Celts of Ireland and Great Britain. Irish and Scottish immigrant...
