For those of you who object to Halloween ........

[LynetteScavo]

....not trick or treating, but the whole idea of Halloween from a religious/spiritual point of view.

I'm really interested to know what your objections are, and which types of church are "anti" halloween.

I object to the trivialising or making fun or humourous the evil side of things. my ds is also petrified of masks, face paints etc but even if he liked it, he would not be taking part in hallowe'en events.

So it's really that the devil should be taken seriously?

My objection is simply that it's a fairly meaningless rip off from another religion, and most often has people revelling in stereotypes ridiculing the religion it was ripped off from in the first place.

We're baptists and mildly mark Reformation Day, but aside from that we just ignore Halloween and all associated high jinks.

I'm an atheist but I feel like horseymum. I dislike the 'evil is fun really' aspect.

Halloween is not about evil! My whole family are pagan & it is about remembering the dead and celebrating their lives. It is also a new year in which to forget the bad things of a passed year. It confuses me that Christians have alternative 'light parties' if you don't believe in it don't celebrate it!

I don't think Halloween celebrates evil or trivialises it.

What I dislike is that you get the dark side but not the light - I would love Halloween to have two parts, scary ghoulishness up to midnight then everyone turns the lights on and celebrates our protection from evil. I like nmn's idea of remembering the dead too. It's much better in the US where its more of a party for the kids and they dress up in all kinds of different costumes, not just scary one.

NB has anyone been watching Deal or No Deal with them all zombified! It is bloody freaky! It is that kind of normalisation of horror I hate actually. Spooky stuff is great but it should stay spooky IMHO.

It's not nmn's idea, that is what Hallowe'en derives from, it is the Pagan/Wiccan New Year during which you celebrate the life and pay respects of those people and loved ones who have died during that year.

It's thought that on that night the veil between the underworld and the living world is at it's thinnest and that the dead are nearer to us somehow. It's just another religion and is not about anything evil at all. It's just been Americanised and commercialised, like christmas.

Ah yes, idea was the wrong word. Comment I suppose I meant. I agree the original celebrations, sanhaim, all hallow's eve etc are not evil - but the witchy zombie vampire stuff I think isn't great. They're far from remembering your dead grandma or whatever. IMHO.

True, but like I said it's all been commercialised hasn't it. DD1 assures me that she will be going trick or treating as Snow White. Dress up doesn't have to be spooky.