Christians can celebrate Halloween without compromising faith

By Mark Griswold | FaVS News Columnist

Friday, millions of children around the United States (and the world), dressed up and went door to door asking for candy. Some Christians like to bemoan this tradition as demonic. Certainly, there are aspects of it we should not condone, like dressing up as a witch or a devil or even an ax murderer. That sort of thing creeps me out, and I want no part of it. 

But does that mean we should shun the day all together? Is October 31st (and Easter and Christmas, for that matter, as some claim) inextricably linked to demonic paganism or is there another possibility? Is there a way for Christians to celebrate Halloween in a holy way that shares the love of Christ?

When Paul went to Athens, he saw many altars to many different gods, including one to the unknown god (Acts 17). He could have angrily chastised the Athenians for worshipping false idols and called them demonic. He would not have been wrong in the technical sense. 

That’s not what he did, however. Instead, Paul began by finding areas where he and the Athenians agreed and complimented them, saying, “Men of Athens, I perceive that in every way you are very religious.” By doing so, he gained the ear of many Athenians.

He went on to explain the one true God and how this God has made mankind to “seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward Him and find Him.” He acknowledged that the Athenians were righteously seeking the one true God but perhaps they just needed a slight course correction. He even quoted some of the Athenians’ own poets.

Some of the Athenians mocked Paul when he spoke of the resurrection of the dead, but others wanted to hear more and became Christians that day. Paul brought souls to Christ that day by meeting them where they were at, finding commonalities and preaching with grace, not anger and condemnation.

So, too, the church continued in that mission through the centuries. When an early church missionary saw a pagan tribe worshipping a tree, he didn’t call them all demonic and start beating them with his staff. He used that pagan worship as a teachable moment to tell them about the tree of life and the tree of salvation, the cross.

Satan’s real tactics: shame and distortion

Every religion contains at least some truth. After all, the devil cannot create anything new. He can only twist what is true toward his own ends, and one of the tactics he uses most often is shame. “You are a sinner. How shameful you are. How could a holy God love someone like you?” 

There is truth in that statement. Yes, we are all sinners. The lie Satan has cleverly hidden within that statement is that we should be ashamed of our sin, that God could not possibly love us after what we have done, so we should just join Satan in celebrating our sins.

I heard one self-proclaimed Satan worshipper say that he loved Satan because Satan didn’t judge him. How sad. I don’t know the backstory of the Satan worshipper, but I wouldn’t be surprised if he’d been abused in some fashion by the church, perhaps told that he should be ashamed of whatever sin he’d committed and that there was no place in the pew for someone like him.

None of this is to say that some stern warnings and a little of the “fire and brimstone” fear of God isn’t warranted at times. But this should be reserved for those who already believe as a reminder, and when we look to the New Testament, Jesus typically used it on the religious leaders of his day, those men who should have known better and whose chief sin was hypocrisy. 

Jesus would have had every right to stone the adulterous woman. After all, he was the only one there who was without sin. He didn’t though. As he so often did, he turned the tables on the situation and the men who skulked off with their heads hanging low were those who were about to stone the woman. 

Of course, Jesus didn’t give the woman a free pass. He did tell her to go and sin no more, but that was secondary, as if he were saying, “I know you didn’t really want to sin. Don’t be ashamed. We all make mistakes. I believe in you. I’m rooting for you to do better next time.”

Pagan roots are everywhere

So, what to do with Halloween? Might it have some similarities to pagan festivals? Sure, but so does just about everything in our culture. Jesus’ first miracle was turning water into wine, so clearly wine is a good thing. 

The very first commandment in the Bible is God telling Adam and Eve to be fruitful and multiply, so clearly sex, within the bond of marriage, is a good thing. At the same time, the ancient Greeks and Romans worshipped the god Dionysus/Bacchus with drunken orgies. They distorted what was true and good to something that was disordered. 

Another example from the present day, all the names of our months up to August, all the names of our days and all the names of our planets are derived from pagan mythology, either Roman or Norse gods, so if someone wants to condemn Halloween, a day that happens once per year, then they should also be prepared to stop using the terms January, named after the Roman god Janus; Thursday, named after the Norse god Thor; and Mars, named after the Roman god of war.

Perhaps there is a better way. If the goal is to bring people to Christ and Christ himself did so with grace and love, not condemnation, shouldn’t we try that approach? Shouldn’t we look, just as Paul did, for the commonalities we might share with those we are trying to convert? (Pro tip: this strategy works not just with Halloween but with just about everything, even — gasp! — politics!)

Halloween derives its name from All Hallows Eve, literally the day before All Saints Day in Christian traditions. At my children’s school, while costumes having anything to do with the occult are rightly not allowed, students are encouraged to dress us as their favorite saints (with dressing up as secular characters like firefighters or superheroes also welcome). 

This is a great way to “reclaim” the day from those who might want to co-opt it toward less holy ends. Halloween means nothing without the day that follows it, and that day is truly something to celebrate. For it’s the day we celebrate all the Saints and saints (those canonized and those family and friends who we have a reasonable expectation that they ended up in heaven), that Satan did not lure.

And instead of closing our blinds, turning off all the lights and telling any children who may still happen upon our door that they’re all participating in the occult and should immediately repent lest they be condemned to hell, which is a good way to drive them toward that end as well as get your house egged, we can welcome them. 

We can complement their creativity in choosing a costume, give them a little candy and rejoice in the fact that they are out with their friends engaging in something far more wholesome than sitting in their basements playing video games or scrolling through TikTok.

We can rejoice, too, that this is one of the few days of the year that neighbors come out from behind closed doors to greet each other, if even for a moment. We can rejoice that people are giving freely and that children are, most of the time, showing gratitude.

The devil doesn’t love Halloween. He absolutely hates it. He hates laughter. He hates joy. He hates neighbors being neighborly.

If you’re still concerned for the souls of the children, especially those dressed as little witches and demons, that’s fine. It’s even proper. There are demonic forces at play. Truly, though, I’d be more concerned about the more subtle avenues Satan is using to come at our children: social media and its promotion of the desire for fame, depression, and the hatred we volley at each other across the airwaves. 

Satan doesn’t come as a horned beast with a forked-tongue, spiked tail and cloven hooves. He’s far more subtle. Because he can’t create, only distort, he usually comes wrapped in a shiny package. He comes as a seductress. He comes as wealth or power. He may even appear to come as fear.

Building relationships, not giving doorstep sermons

So how do we rescue our children (and the rest of us, for that matter), from Satan’s snare? Well, we’re probably not going to do it during the few seconds we have on the front porch. There are some quick strategies that you might employ there like handing out a prayer card or an invitation to your church’s “All Saints Day” Mass (not to be too judgmental here, but if your church is not holding an All Saints Day service, regardless of whether you’re Catholic or not, but you are hosting a “Harvest Party” or just chastising Halloween, you’re not doing it right).

These are all fine things to do and may even be the opening required for the Holy Spirit to make his way into their hearts, but the best way to bring souls to Christ is not through a 15-second homily delivered on your doorstep (and certainly not through calling everyone who celebrates Halloween demonic), but through relationship. 

That little kid dressed like a serial killer that will ring your doorbell tomorrow night, do you know where he lives? Have you ever invited his family over for dinner? Do you have any idea of what struggles they’re facing and what pains they’ve endured in their past? 

Dressing up as a serial killer is definitely not something to be celebrated, but what led that family to think that was a good choice of costume beyond the general attitude of the culture we live in?

Instead of cursing the darkness, light a candle. Maybe next Halloween, embrace the day and use it as a wonderful opportunity to meet your neighbors, tell them about the Christian origins of the celebration and invite them to dinner. Either that or stop using the word Wednesday.

The views expressed in this opinion column are those of the author. They do not necessarily reflect the views of FāVS News. FāVS News values diverse perspectives and thoughtful analysis on matters of faith and spirituality.

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