Halloween Week-Prejudice

Very year, thousands of fundamentalists, usually Christian, try to boycott Halloween because they believe it is a “Satanist” holiday. Though modern Hollywood has perverted ‘witchcraft’ and Pagan symbols, these fundies tend to take things much too far.

Think of the movie Rosemary’s Baby. The writers did their research: they got a lot of the Witch terminology right, like Sabbats, and they showed the witches with herb gardens, and using these herbs in drinks and to help Rosemary’s baby grow properly. But, they also made the witches into Satanists, and Rosemary’s infant was indeed the son of the Devil. This film was made in the 60s, when the horror genre was really getting its own niche. This is where you had the very experimental type of horror movies, like Rosemary’s Baby or the Exorcist.

Now, as for fundies...this is an excerpt from a BBC article
“Rev Campbell said his church was opposed to Hallowe'en because it was "one of the two major days for Satanists", and "God's word clearly condemns and warns people about celebrating or glorifying Hallowe'en or the occult".” -- Source

How can anyone even consider this is at all true? Yes, Halloween has negative connotations because of the movies, as do witches, but for the general population, no one really cares about the history of Halloween. Kids like dressing up and getting free candy, and in the end, shouldn’t we, at least the general population, just let kids have fun without spewing nonsense about how it glorifies evil.

I know a lot of Christians don’t feel that way about Halloween. Even if they are ignorant to Paganism, they don’t let it get in the way of fun. When I went to Sunday School, we had Halloween crafts the Sunday before Halloween. Even if our ministers thought it may have at one point been a Devil-worshipping holiday—which is, of course, bullshit—they now see it as a fun holiday for kids to dress up and get free candy, and they aren’t going to go out and sacrifice people to the Devil if they do.

It can be hard to be a Pagan and listen to this hatred being spewed out; we want to rid the world of ignorance. But, it can be hard to reverse centuries of brainwashing on the Church’s part.
I have absolutely no conclusion here....

Anyway, question time: How do you deal with prejudice?