I heard some communities don't allow Halloween - is that a fundie thing?

Question

Safety thing? That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard (besides just about everything the US government is doing). As long as the candy is wrapped and sealed, there's no problem.

Answer 1

Wrong no...ingenious ways of doping the candy with drugs
isn't safe anymore as getting ibuprofen for a headache.

Answer 2

Halloween is taken from the old holiday called Samhain, a day that celebrated the harvest and honored our ancestors. Although nowadays it's mostly commercial and meant to be a fun day for everyone, candy and costumes and the like, it is still an important holiday for Pagans, Wiccans, Witches and many Satanists because of the religio-spiritual connections.

And of course, since most of the US is Christian-based, anything like that MUST be evil and horrible, so fundamentalists might fall back on old myths (which they very well might think are true, knowing them) to justify banning any celebration of Halloween.

There's no razor blades in the apples. There's no cyanide in the candy. There's no spike in kidnappings from strangers. Yes, you do have to be careful and check ANYthing you eat (on any given day really), but Halloween is not evil or much more dangerous than any other day, and Satan isn't going to come get you for enjoying a Milky Way-- in fact, he'd probably be busy enjoying one, too. :P

Just make sure to lock your cats and animals up. There really -are- sick, twisted people out there who'd hurt them just to be mean or cause a panic.

Answer 3

Depends on what you mean by "Fundie." "Fundamentalists" were (and are) a very specific group of theologically and socially conservative believers that made a name for themselves back in the early part of the twentieth century. The advance of theological liberalism inspired some to proclaim a set of theological truths that were "fundamental," not negotiable, such as the inerrancy and divine inspiration of the Bible. Many who would later take the name "fundamentalist" would also have a number of cultural distinctives, such as rejecting smoking, drinking and dancing, as activities too worldly for believers to engage in. Even now, there are many believers who look at the occult imagery now associated with Halloween, and feel it is inappropriate for believers to engage in such activities, because it tends to sanction such superstitions as ghosts and witchcraft, and to glorify the ugly and hideous. In other words, it is too worldly. Christians are advised in Scripture to not love the world, nor the things in the world. This is simply an outworking of that policy for those whose “fundamentalism” includes a commitment to the Bible as supernatural revelation.

Others, many of whom are neither fundamentalist, nor even religious, have recognized the dangers associated with unmonitored candy distribution to young children and are simply unwilling to put their children in that position. Furthermore, if the very small number of true “fundies” can work together with the larger community to eliminate that danger, why not? After all, I would think the nonreligious would be more anxious to get rid of Halloween than the religious, as it is a religious holiday, of sorts, originating in a superstitious effort to scare away evil forces by dressing up scary. Replace it with a well-monitored fall festival, and everybody is happy. The kids get their candy, the antireligious eliminate a bastion of superstition, and the “fundies” don’t have to deal with the occult imagery. A triple win, but who could lose? The marketers of seasonal goods. Oh well, can’t please everybody, I guess.

Answer 4

I believe that most of the time it has to do with public safety. There are alot of real ghouls running around out there. Many places are just trying to protect the children. This year, all the known sex offenders in Charleston, SC have to report to a central location during Trick-or Treat. Don't know if that will work. There are so many that haven't been caught. I like the idea of community Halloween parties, like when I was young. We would all go to the elementary school cafe-tori-nasium and have donuts and cider. Then we would have a costume contest with prizes donated by the community.

We still went Trick-or-Treating, but it was different back then. Of course, my mother had to drive us since the houses were sometimes miles apart.

Answer 5

I live in a small town where they do allow trick or treat but no Halloween parties at the schools. Most of the churches here believe it glorifies Satan! That's the funniest thing I think I've ever heard. People like that need to do a little research on Halloween and it's true meaning before making such assumptions.

Answer 6

Yes it is, under the guise of "safety". It's nonsense, though. There have been no cases of razor blades in apples, and there were only two cases of poisoned Halloween candy: One was a father who poisoned his son for the insurace money, the other was by a kid who accidentally ate a relative's heroin stash because he thought it was candy. The "vandalism" claim is also an exaggerated "problem".

Simply put, fundies somehow conflate Halloween with their evil bogeyman (whom they believe to be a real entity), and so want to ban the holiday to "protect" everyone else.

Answer 7

That would be the case! Rather foolish, tho, you can't ban a DAY. Ask the powers-that-be in the towns that are trying that to get their reasons just to be sure. It might make for a good news-item, "Small town bans halloween" and let the press poke subtle ridicule at them, possibly even find citizens thereof that don't agree with the ban on the activities and air THEIR "take" on the whole mess. I don't live in an area where the religio-nazi's have any hold, (WA. State) but it IS puzzling to find that they have that much sway in some places.

Answer 8

I have never heard of that before. And I am a member of what used to be a fundamentalist church (we took the word off our sign because it has such a bad reputation these days and we didn't want people lumping us in with terrorists or the crazies who picket soldiers' funerals).

We personally don't celebrate Halloween but it isn't because our church or community forbids it. It is our own personal choice.

Answer 9

Some communities have banned the traditional door to door "trick or treating" that has gone on in the past, due to the increase in crimes committed. i.e. vandalism. They, however, have no choice about Halloween. It happens to be on the calender and they can't ban the calender.

Answer 10

The Orthodox Church discourages celebrating Halloween, we do not say it is not allowed. I haven't ever heard of anyone being forced out of the church for celebrating:). As for my family we do not celebrate Halloween.

EDIT- Oh come on it isn't like I don't allow candy in the house, we just don't celebrate Halloween...