Should Christians Celebrate Halloween?
|
|
Halloween is gaining popularity as a U.S. holiday. According to the National Retail Federation (NRF) website, roughly 65% of households in the US will celebrate Halloween to some extent (from 2005 - 2021, 60% to 70% of households have celebrated Halloween). Here are some other interesting statistics about Halloween 2021:
US consumers are expected to spend an average of $102.74 per person, up from $92.12 in 2020. Consumer spending on Halloween-related items is expected to reach an all-time high of $10.14 billion, up from $8.05 billion in 2020, according to the National Retail Federation's annual survey conducted by Prosper Insights and Analytics. According to the survey, US consumers planned to spend at total of $3.3 billion on costumes, $3.0 billion on candy, $3.2 billion on decorations and $0.7 billion on greeting cards.
The relaxation of COVID restrictions also played a part in the increased spending for 2021. “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. This has brought a widely divergent series of responses from Christian brothers and sisters. Some Christians are vehemently opposed to any celebration of Halloween, and others view the holiday as a relatively benign celebration where children dress up in costumes, many of them dressed in costumes that have nothing to do with dark themes.
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 opinions about 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 nor 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?”
US consumers are expected to spend an average of $102.74 per person, up from $92.12 in 2020. Consumer spending on Halloween-related items is expected to reach an all-time high of $10.14 billion, up from $8.05 billion in 2020, according to the National Retail Federation's annual survey conducted by Prosper Insights and Analytics. According to the survey, US consumers planned to spend at total of $3.3 billion on costumes, $3.0 billion on candy, $3.2 billion on decorations and $0.7 billion on greeting cards.
The relaxation of COVID restrictions also played a part in the increased spending for 2021. “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. This has brought a widely divergent series of responses from Christian brothers and sisters. Some Christians are vehemently opposed to any celebration of Halloween, and others view the holiday as a relatively benign celebration where children dress up in costumes, many of them dressed in costumes that have nothing to do with dark themes.
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 opinions about 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 nor 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?”