People are fine with being disrespectful to Christians

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At a church playgroup. The people who run it are very devout Christians. I am taken aback, by the number of parents, who thought it was appropriate to bring their kids to the church dressed for Halloween. Kids are dressed as witches, goblins, skeletons, creepy pumpkins etc..
The church holds a light party every year on Halloween and is very clear that they do not endorse Halloween.

And what makes your hedonistic belief system correct? Because you said so?

A classic authoritarian posing as a liberal. Like many.

I do wonder if the thread title attracts both groups. I actually find the reasonable posts discussing the history and different perspectives on halloween really interesting.

Or took my kid to a Synagogue dressed as a ham sandwich?

that’s a pretty anti-Semitic statement. Jewish people don’t think ham sandwiches are ‘evil’ or bad. They’d just think you’re weird. Which you are

You think it is wrong to dress a child up as a vampire, witch etc. other people don't. If you want to run a playgroup that is purely and only for members of the church I would support the churches right to do that. If however you choose to run a playgroup that is open to members of the community (as many churches do) members of the church will inevitably be exposed to the beliefs and norms of the community at large

Beautifully put

Though the playgroup's run by "very devout Christians" OP hasn't said how clear they make their expectations of everyone else, but maybe they'd be better restricting the group to those of a similar mindset

FWIW I'm not keen on the darker side of halloween either, but then neither am I keen on churchgoers - who are of course entitled to their own views - imposing them on others

Would people think it was disrespectful if I dressed my kids as the devil and went to the Mosque? Would it be ok if I wore a bikini to a Mosque (as another poster said). Or took my kid to a Synagogue dressed as a ham sandwich?

Are no faiths allowed to be offered consideration by people using their places of worship?

I think that if there was a centuries old date in the calender that was culturally accepted and celebrated as Dress Like a Devil Day and the mosque held an open play group on the morning of Dress Like a Devil Day, without specifying what your religious persuasion has to be in order to attend, and a couple of small children came wearing devil horns, they would be misguided to choose to be offended.

Same goes for Dress in a Bikini Day , where most of the country dress in a bikini, and the Mosque decides to hold an open day on that well known day, and gets upset that someone turned up in a bikini on their way to Sainsburys.

Or the old classic, Dress Like a Ham Sandwich Day, on which the synagogue decided to host a community get together, and a couple of kids came like a loaf of Kingsmill 50/50.

When you throw open the doors of your place of worship to the wider community and welcome people who do not hold your religious beliefs, you absolutely must be prepared to deal with the fact that what comes through the door won't necessarily be the same as you, and might be challenging. Not everyone knows the rules.

Now would be a good time to excercise the Christian belifes of acceptance and compassion, tolerance and peace to those little pumpkins and crack open the Chupa Chups.

Lots of aggro for party which hasn't even happen yet

What do the actual people who run it think?

I wonder if thread would still stand if it was people saying what a load of mumbo jumbo Islam was and how ridiculous muslims are?

Excellent post.

I see it’s been pointed out but Halloween is a Christian, if not festival, then at least event. All Hallows’ eve.

Yes the whole dressing as witches or whatever else floats your boat (and it can be practically anything these days) is distinctly secular, but it’s not anti Christian either. That part is completely secular, like eating turkey at Christmas or similar

I can assure you there are talks like that in country which are majority muslim.

I don't understand why people can't get that.

They would be branded ridiculous in here too though if they created a party to counteract pther celebration instead of just doing their party one day later when it's their day.

I think people just don’t think - maybe the church needs to be more explicit on their posters

You might want to read up on the history of Christian Socialism, the Quaker movements, the involvement of Christians in trade unionism etc.

I'm not religious but you are sounding pretty much like a zealot to me.

The Express generally tacks left, I think.

Our church always hosts a Light Party at Halloween. Children come dressed up - but not as witches etc as we follow the teaching of the bible (this shouldn't be surprising!) which explains that we shouldn't have anything to do with witches. We don't want children to miss out on having fun when everyone else is - we just want to do it in a biblical way. Jesus said 'I am the Light of the World' so we have lots of lights around.

You can’t, as a religion, take over a centuries old set of pagan celebrations and expect everyone to “switch” to your more pious (frankly boring) alternatives without keeping on any of their original rituals.

Look at Nowruz in Iran. Its a festival from the Zoroastrian religion originally. If those in charge in the “Islamic republic of” Iran can’t bow their people to drop an ancient festival (and they really did try), then I don’t think you’ve got much hope here with a “light festival” to replace Halloween/Samhain.

So they hold a party on Halloween and don't expect any children to come dressed for Halloween? So what is the party for? If they don't want them dressed for Halloween why not have it on a different day.

If you don’t like to see kids dressed in Halloween outfits on Halloween at a toddler group don’t go that day then. I have been to plenty of church toddler groups over the years most are fantastically run no very friendly. If they choose to run on Halloween I expect they know little kids will be dressed up or want to. They are kids it’s fun let them play. If you have an issue with it take it up with your church.

It's All Hallows Eve. It's already a Christian celebration!

There are plenty of c of e churches that are not like this though. Mine is full of children and young people of all ages, different types of music, relevant sermons, a load of emphasis on honesty about things like mental health, lots of support for people in tough situations. We put on fab light parties and loads of kids come dressed in Halloween outfits and we love having then, we do a lot of the traditional Halloween games too and just generally have lots of fun. I'm not a Halloween fan but I am really not in the zone of judging people who are. We happily give away sweets to trick or treaters and sometimes put up pumpkins etc. Last year we put on a pumpkin trail that was very popular. We just tend towards the celebration of light side of things without discounting the fun stuff.

Ha ha - love it! Yes my grandmother's house was fully of icons too, some of which I have inherited. :-)