Should Christians Celebrate Halloween?
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Halloween is gaining popularity as a U.S. holiday. Although, according to the National Retail Federation (NRF). Although Halloween still lags behind winter holidays (Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanza), back to school/college, Mother’s Day, Valentine’s Day, Easter, the Super Bowl, and Father’s Day, this "scary" holiday still has a huge following. Here are some commercial facts about Halloween (from 2016):
U.S. consumers are expected to spend an average of $82.93, up from the total in 2015 of $74.34, with more than 171 million Americans planning to partake in Halloween festivities this year.
According to the survey, consumers planned to spend $3.1 billion on costumes (purchased by 67 percent of Halloween shoppers), $2.5 billion on candy (94.3 percent), $2.4 billion on decorations (70 percent) and $390 million on greeting cards (35.4 percent).
“After a long summer, families are excited to welcome the fall season celebrating Halloween,” NRF President and CEO Matthew Shay said. “Retailers are preparing for the day by offering a wide variety of options in costumes, decorations and candy, while being aggressive with their promotions to capture the most out of this shopping event.”
Other than the commercial aspect, Christians are faced with the ethical/spiritual aspects of celebrating Halloween. Given the fact that Halloween has its roots in the pagan celebration of Samhain [pronounced “SŎW - ĕn”], can Christians participate in the holiday by taking our children trick-or-treating, wearing costumes, or decorating our homes with things like witches, skeletons, etc. with a clear conscience? Or are we free to participate, carefully avoiding the darker aspects of Halloween?
Over the past several weeks, I have read and printed about 100 pages of articles and other resources relating to Halloween customs and practices as well as our Christian response to them. Then I started to write a short article of my own regarding the practice of Halloween. After the second page, I noticed that my “article” resembled and contained much of the same information as the resources that I consulted. So, rather than re-inventing the wheel, I chose to provide links to two of the most comprehensive articles as presented on the websites of some other Christian organizations.
The first article is from the Grace to You website (http://www.gty.org/). This article teaches that the celebration of Halloween is a “matter of conscience”. In other words, it is up to each Christian whether or not to participate in Halloween celebrations and to what extent. Click here to read the article “Christians and Halloween”.
The second article is from the Word of His Grace website (http://www.wordofhisgrace.org/). This article teaches that, while Christians are not specifically forbidden to do so and may participate in Halloween activities, it is not advisable to do so. Click here to read the article “Should Christians Participate in Halloween Celebrations?”
I personally believe that the decision whether or not to celebrate Halloween should be a matter of conscience and that neither those who choose to participate or those who opt to not participate should be harshly judged by other Christians. However, careful consideration should also be given to the reasoning presented in the article “Should Christians participate in Halloween celebrations?”
U.S. consumers are expected to spend an average of $82.93, up from the total in 2015 of $74.34, with more than 171 million Americans planning to partake in Halloween festivities this year.
According to the survey, consumers planned to spend $3.1 billion on costumes (purchased by 67 percent of Halloween shoppers), $2.5 billion on candy (94.3 percent), $2.4 billion on decorations (70 percent) and $390 million on greeting cards (35.4 percent).
“After a long summer, families are excited to welcome the fall season celebrating Halloween,” NRF President and CEO Matthew Shay said. “Retailers are preparing for the day by offering a wide variety of options in costumes, decorations and candy, while being aggressive with their promotions to capture the most out of this shopping event.”
Other than the commercial aspect, Christians are faced with the ethical/spiritual aspects of celebrating Halloween. Given the fact that Halloween has its roots in the pagan celebration of Samhain [pronounced “SŎW - ĕn”], can Christians participate in the holiday by taking our children trick-or-treating, wearing costumes, or decorating our homes with things like witches, skeletons, etc. with a clear conscience? Or are we free to participate, carefully avoiding the darker aspects of Halloween?
Over the past several weeks, I have read and printed about 100 pages of articles and other resources relating to Halloween customs and practices as well as our Christian response to them. Then I started to write a short article of my own regarding the practice of Halloween. After the second page, I noticed that my “article” resembled and contained much of the same information as the resources that I consulted. So, rather than re-inventing the wheel, I chose to provide links to two of the most comprehensive articles as presented on the websites of some other Christian organizations.
The first article is from the Grace to You website (http://www.gty.org/). This article teaches that the celebration of Halloween is a “matter of conscience”. In other words, it is up to each Christian whether or not to participate in Halloween celebrations and to what extent. Click here to read the article “Christians and Halloween”.
The second article is from the Word of His Grace website (http://www.wordofhisgrace.org/). This article teaches that, while Christians are not specifically forbidden to do so and may participate in Halloween activities, it is not advisable to do so. Click here to read the article “Should Christians Participate in Halloween Celebrations?”
I personally believe that the decision whether or not to celebrate Halloween should be a matter of conscience and that neither those who choose to participate or those who opt to not participate should be harshly judged by other Christians. However, careful consideration should also be given to the reasoning presented in the article “Should Christians participate in Halloween celebrations?”