To Trick Or Not To Treat

BOO!

Years ago, I knew someone that practiced a "religious-right" form of Christianity. Hate everyone, everyone's going to hell, blah blah blah. She wasn't going to allow her children to trick or treat on Halloween because her church elders deemed the holiday a ritualistic salute to the devil. I was in shock and felt so sorry for her children. How selfish.

I don't know why anyone would deprive their kids of one of childhood's best experiences. When I was 5, I had a store-bought costume of Caspar the Friendly Ghost. I still remember it. I can remember calculating what houses we were going to weeks ahead of time. The anticipation, the planning, the fun!

• Children only know what they're told...if you tell them they are worshipping the devil, that's what they'll know. If you tell them they get to dress up and collect candy for free from the neighbors, that's what they'll know. Don't put your convoluted beliefs in their heads and they won't think it!
• Don't like demons? Dress them up like ballerinas or faerie princess; a pirate or superhero. How about going as a soldier since these churches all seem to be gung-ho for the war in Iraq?
• Do fun stuff...throw a party where you visit with friends, drink apple cider, eat doughnuts, dunk for apples, and have a parade with a costume contest.

You can take part in the festivities without kneeling at the altar of hell. As I pointed out to her, "You celebrated Halloween when you were a kid and it didn't make you evil." Or did it?