Some Churches Reject Occult for 'Holy' Halloween

 

Some Churches Reject Occult for 'Holy' Halloween

By Judy Keen, USA TODAY

(Oct. 31) - Pastors who believe Halloween is a pagan tradition are urging children to trade pumpkin-carving and scary costumes for hayrides, contests for best saint costumes and prayers.

More churches are spurning Halloween as interest in witchcraft, séances and "channeling" grows, says Richard Mouw, president of Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, Calif. "At the very least, this means that Christians cannot view Halloween as just another innocent childhood ritual," he wrote on Beliefnet.com, a spirituality website.

"When I was a kid, it seemed like a pretty harmless celebration," Mouw says in an interview. The holiday evolved into a raucous adult party that emphasizes witches, he says, and "has generated great anxiety among more conservative Christians."

Castleview Baptist Church in Indianapolis will offer games, a photo booth and candy tonight. Children will collect treats from cars in the parking lot. Sharon Rawlins, the children's director, says costumes are OK if they're "sensitive to the church's views." Her grandchildren will be dressed as Peanuts characters Charlie Brown, Lucy and Woodstock.

The fall festival, which is free and billed as a safe alternative to traditional Halloween activities, draws as many as 1,000 people, Rawlins says. "We don't celebrate Halloween because there's a lot of connection to the evil side of what it represents," she says. "And children get more candy here than they ever would trick-or-treating."

Other Halloween alternatives:

--The congregation of Mt. Lebanon United Presbyterian Church in Mount Lebanon, Pa., will head to a farm tonight for a harvest festival that includes dinner, a hayride and prayer. Bob Maravalli, a church pastor, says Halloween's origins among ancient Celts as "a night when the dark, evil world released spirits en masse to harass folks" isn't something to celebrate. "We take evil really seriously," he says.

--The Church of Holy Apostles in McHenry, Ill., will have a hayride, "trunk or treat" from cars in the Catholic parish's parking lot and prizes for children wearing the best saint costumes. During the hayride, storytellers dressed as martyred saints will talk about the meaning of their deaths.

--The House of Prayer Ellettsville Church in Bloomington, Ind., sponsors a "hell house" instead of a haunted house every Halloween. People pay $5 each - children 10 and under can't attend - to walk from room to room. They see domestic violence, a teenage boy committing suicide and other examples of sinful conduct. Then they enter hell and are confronted by Satan before being rescued by an archangel who takes them to heaven, where Jesus awaits.

Hell houses are growing in popularity, says House of Prayer pastor Larry Mitchell. Some people vomit after seeing the harrowing scenes, but after the first night of this year's sold-out performances, he says, 84 people "claimed first-time salvation and 20-some rededicated their lives."Mitchell doesn't condemn those who participate in Halloween activities. "It may seem to be harmless," he says, "but it's a day to invoke the help of the devil."

Carlos Gonzalez, a pastor at Harlandale United Methodist Church in San Antonio, told his congregation on Sunday that they "need to be apart from the world in the sense of not copying pagan traditions." Some church members find this difficult to accept, and their children are disappointed, he says. "They do not know that Halloween is for the witches and warlocks. It's their day."

Some prominent religious leaders have gentler views of Halloween. James Dobson, founder of the conservative group Focus on the Family, writes on his website, "If the Halloween experience is focused on fantasy rather than the occult, I see no harm in it."

Dean McFalls, a Catholic priest at Our Lady of Guadalupe Church in Lathrop, Calif., hosted a "holy Halloween" party Sunday. One youngster wore a pope costume. McFalls says he understands why some churches are reluctant to celebrate the holiday. "Halloween is secularized and it's more comedy than wickedness," he says. "Halloween, like it or not, is fun."