10.28.2017

More Jesus Halloween Candy Please

Halloween Scripture Candy

I don't remember anything like this when I was a child trick-or-treating on Halloween. The few fundamentalist Christians in the neighborhood were far too afraid of Halloween to consider participating in it. I think some of them really thought their imaginary souls were in danger from demons who could possess them if they acknowledged Halloween. They simply turned off their porch lights, and we knew not to bother them. It seemed like a good arrangement for all involved.

As an adult, I'd discover that some evangelical fundamentalist Christians used Halloween as an opportunity to proselytize to children. Most did this by distributing Christian tracts along with the candy they handed out. Some of these tracts were explicitly anti-Halloween, but others had no relevance to Halloween at all. I am fairly certain that all this accomplished was creating piles of litter in the residential neighborhoods where the trick-or-treating was still allowed. And yes, others opted to proselytize not by distributing anything but by verbally haranguing anyone unfortunate enough to be within earshot about how they were destined for hell unless they repented.

The sort of Halloween candy dripping with Jesus pictured above seems like an improvement. As silly as it is for Christians to inject their Jesus into everything, at least those who hand out candy like this are participating in a fun holiday (by attempting to drain it of fun). Some of the younger children probably don't even notice that their candy has been Jesused-up. Maybe atheists should get in on the act and use Halloween to promote reality. Then again, there are probably better occasions for that sort of thing (e.g., Easter, Christmas). Besides, I wouldn't want to ruin the fun of Halloween for those who are fortunate enough to still have access to one of the fun versions of the holiday.