Because Halloween is such a controversial subject in conservative Christianity, and because my views clash with many in this group, I would like to skip Halloween entirely. But it's impossible. Even the most disinterested Christian is going to be bombarded by messages about how evil 10/31 is, and about all of the atrocities that allegedly happen on that night. Some of these scare tactics have historical basis, but many are just silly. Eggs, toilet paper, and silly costumes are no more satanic than the black cat we used to have. And Halloween isn't the only "holiday" with sinister origins. I don't know the exact history, but I've been told that Jesus did not invent the Christmas Tree. *gasp* Nor was He actually born in December. *gasp, gasp* Nor were there necessarily 3 wise men. *triple gasp!!!* But that's a completely different subject that I may get into at another time.
Michael Spencer, a Christian thinker/teacher/blogger whom I highly respect, has posted on his site a Toast proposed by The Great Pumpkin of Peanuts fame. Here is an excerpt:
"The world of the imagination has always been essential to human beings, but they've never known just what to do with it. Sometimes they want to live there entirely, and others times they avoid it completely. They reward those who create it in books and music, and yet they fear these artists of the imagination as well, even doing them great harm. Throughout history, the imagination has been denounced as well as celebrated. Each one of us knows about those times when we were welcome to bring happiness, and also about those times when we were blamed for all kinds of evil that we did not create, in fact, could not create because of what we are."
"Particularly painful for many of us are the escalating attacks of religious people on the realm of the imagination. We have suffered from those who see the imagination as a gateway of evil, rather than a canvas on which human nature itself paints the picture. We have been blamed for violence and even death, things we would not even know were it not for human beings investing us with those actions in their own minds. It is as if some religious people actually believe that we exist- that we are real and were somehow a threat to them."
You can read the entire Toast at http://www.internetmonk.com/articles/P/pumpkin.html. It may do you good.