Halloween may be harmless, their words imply, but they maintain that it isn’t “Christian”.
By Dr. Beth Allison Barr
Professor of History
Associate Dean of the Graduate School
Baylor University
We carved pumpkins again this year.
I still had to clean out the insides, but this time my daughter carved the triangle eyes. I had to help with the teeth. My son opted out of carving entirely, aside from helping keep our Whippet from eating the pumpkins. He claims he doesn’t like the icky feeling of touching pumpkin insides, but I think he was offended when his then 6-year-old sister secretly graded his carving skills. My husband and I laughed and laughed when we discovered the score card she had made.
Carving pumpkins isn’t our only family Halloween tradition. We also faithfully pin our skeleton storm trooper to our front door (yes, we are Star Wars fans too….), make Halloween treats (for the past two years it has been monster cookies), watch classic kid-friendly Halloween movies (It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown, and the Disney Legend of Sleepy Hollow), and trick-or-treat, of course.
I do identify as an evangelical Christian–I grew up in Baptist churches and I serve with my husband, an ordained Baptist minister, at the local Baptist church he currently pastors. For the years my husband served as a pastor outside of Baptist circles, we were still safely evangelical as he was the youth pastor at an Evangelical Free Church. My evangelical pedigree, at least in regards to my church membership and service, is unimpeachable. But, in regards to Halloween, I seem out of sync with my evangelical peers.
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