Meditation 935
What to do about Christian goodies for Halloween?
by: JT
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As part of their plan to take back Halloween, the promoters of Jesus Ween are encouraging their followers to hand out Christian goodies to children on Halloween. Recommendations include
- Bibles
- New Testaments
- Christian books
- Candy wrapped in scripture verses
While I have no evidence to back it up, my feelings are that these are the type of Christians who would claim their religious liberties were being infringed upon if you asked them not to give your children such trash; I suggest that they are also the type of people who would claim their religious liberties were being infringed upon if you tried to give their children equivalent anti-religious material.
Still, this is still a movement on the loony fringe of Christianity, and it probable that most of your children will not encounter any of these people on their trick-or-treat rounds this year. But what if they do?
This is an opportunity for one or more teaching moments with your kids. If they come home with Bibles, Christian literature, Christian comics or whatever, you can sit down with them, point out some of the errors and falsehoods, and explain that this is why we reject these stories and myths. Let the kids keep the books if they want them to read - but ask them to discuss the issues with you, and be prepared to do so without delay. (None of that "Later, mommy's busy right now.")
As for the scripture verse on candy wrappers, it presents an opportunity to point out a selection of scripture verses that somehow did not make it onto any of wrappers - for example:
"Happy those who seize your children and smash them against a rock."
"You shall not let a witch live."
"Slaves, be subject to your masters with all reverence, not only to those who are good and equitable but also to those who are perverse."
etc.
Let them know that these verses came from exactly the same source as the verses on their candy - and this, again, is part of the reason why we reject the religion being promoted.