Fundamentalists and Halloween
• Christian Fundamentalism
York solicitor Donald Hoyt was clearly out of line in forbidding the Rev. Jim Grove and his group from displaying large photographs of bloodied fetuses and other dead bodies while marching in Sunday’s York Halloween Parade, according to the American Civil Liberties Union. ...
Grove said Halloween is the perfect time of year to talk about “the horrors of abortion” because it is a “satanic worship” holiday. He also said he thought there were other parade participants who were just as offensive, if not worse.
York Daily Record: Was free speech denied Sunday, or did the Rev. Jim Grove’s photos risk a riot?
Pastor Billy Earley is among the reformed trick-or-treaters of the world. Earley, pastor of the nondenominational Glory Church in Hurst, refuses to acknowledge the holiday. But if asked about it, he hands out a pamphlet that describes the holiday as "the Devil's birthday."
Trivialize the devil, Earley says, let him infiltrate the mind, and sooner or later, a person gets bitten by evil.
"Satan is not a symbol. He is a real person," Earley said. "And he has influence over your mind."
Darren Barbee, Star-Telegram: To some, Halloween isn't innocent fun
"It's about to get real hot," says Roberts, a Pentecostal preacher in demon's clothing.
It was about to get hot for a teenage drunken driver, an abusive father, a suicidal teen, pill-popping ravers, a woman who had an abortion and a gay couple.
All are banished to hell in the latest incarnation of Hell House, the Halloween morality play that purports to show the consequences of sin in graphic detail. ...
A gay marriage, with two demons presiding. The scene ends with one of the partners dying of AIDS. "We told him he was born gay," sneers one of the demons. "Guess what? We lied."
A young woman who had an abortion is taken by the "angel of tomorrow" to experience what might have happened if she had given birth: a child at her first piano recital, sweet 16 birthday party, wedding day and as a first-grade teacher. "You killed me, Mom," the daughter yells at one point. "You murdered me. I was given no choice to live." Later, mother and daughter are reunited in heaven, the closing scene.
Eric Gorski, Denver Post: Fire, brimstone for Halloween
Earlier: Have an unholy Halloween.
Comments
Posted by: Shawn Ledington | December 18, 2003 2:14 PM