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The Religious, the Secular and Halloween
The religious sector from the different states of America have hounded the celebration of Halloween for many years. The commemoration was often linked to "evil" or "anti-Christ" activities. Halloween was maligned more than other public events in the US.
Taking a closer look at the oppression
Today, it is not so easy to comprehend what "satanic" stands for according to these small religious groups. To shed a little light, the western Christian belief considered anything that did not appear Christian-like as demonic.
The evolution of the devil's picture through the ages has implied that the devil is everywhere. If you were in a small house looking at the unexplored wilderness out the window, then the wilderness is the devil. That's how the devil was perceived for centuries.
Complete removal?
For many decades, the religious sector had wanted to totally erase Halloween celebrations from schools. They used the "pagan" themes as justification to eliminate Halloween from the calendar. The hideous image of goblins and ghouls were thought to be from hell.
That meant if you believed in such ideas, you may then think children who dress up with masks and outfits for the occasion were being incorporated as alliances to Satan. Ridiculous as it seem, these churches had large followings.
Reaction
However, not everyone is supportive of the conservative, extreme religious Right. According to the Atlanta Constitution, a newspaper:
"Halloween may have begun as a pagan festival, but in the United States it was now a festival of fun, feasts, fancy frocks, and frivolous fright. Ours is not just a Christian nation, but a nation born from the search of religious freedom. Let the kids have some fun."
Because of such strong, critical views of Halloween, the celebration has been saved from unjust persecution and complete immolation.
Dousing the fire
The voices of the people have prevailed, and because of this, religious parties have taken extreme measures just to ensure that they have their own say as to how Halloween celebrations should be carried out. Such communities may not really know what to do.
These communities based their actions on irrelevant contexts without looking into more significant grounds. As a result, their attempt to control the matter was botched. But then, these reactionaries countered the Halloween festival by celebrating it in total contrast to prevailing customs.
For instance, children were dressed up in happier outfits, replacing the scary costumes normally used during Halloween. More so, the key idea of a haunted house was altered to incorporate their own interpretation of evil.
For example, the Trinity Christian School in Texas has been known to organize a yearly Hell House. The Hell House antagonizes the frequent motifs and themes in popular culture such as the following:
- Drug-ridden raves
- Premarital sex
- Homosexuality
- Domestic violence
- School shootings
Its purpose is to steer the children and disoriented adolescents to their idea of the way to virtue and morality. Does it work? At some point it shows that it indeed works. Based on figures, of the 75,000 people who received police records at a certain time, around 15,000 have rejoined as responsible members of the community.
These are the most modern weapons of evangelism today; apart from the presence on the World Wide Web.
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