To the Editor:
This Halloween, my daughter returned home from trick-or-treating in North Cape May and
discovered an evangelical Christian pamphlet alongside her candy.
I was stunned. If this had been messaging from a wiccan church celebrating Samhain, an LGBTQIA+ support message, or any other politically affiliated message directed towards children, this community would be outraged.
Halloween is supposed to be an evening of revelry, costumes and socialization. Using this secular festival to deliver religious sermons to children is strange and intrusive. Distributing religious literature on Halloween diminishes the essence of the holiday and violates such foundational American ideals as religious freedom and diversity.
Halloween in the contemporary U.S. continues to be a broadly secular holiday. It’s a time when kids from all walks of life gather to share basic kid pleasures — candy, costumes and community. For the vast majority of families, it’s a moment away from work and school to let loose and have some fun, not an occasion for religious political outreach.
When this type of religious messaging is distributed to children at Halloween, it imposes a personal agenda upon a public space meant for community fun. Alienating families and destroying the holiday’s shared feel.
America was founded on religious freedom – including acknowledging plurality of faiths in public. Some people in North Cape May this year felt the need to reject that plurality by handing out religious tracts on Halloween and making one belief system more legitimate than any other.
This is especially dangerous when directed at children, who aren’t equipped to interpret religious messages. As a secular parent I believe that Halloween is a religious free playground for children, not a forum for theological outreach.
Ironically, most of the same groups that think it’s normal to pass out these religious flyers to trick-or-treaters also accuse others (such as the LGBTQIA+ community) of “shoving their lifestyle down our throats” in society.
Yet offering children religious literature during a secular holiday is precisely the type of behavior these organizations and people purport to discourage. Using Halloween to promote a particular faith disregards the rights of non-believing families and imposes personal beliefs during an event where such messaging is neither necessary nor appropriate.
Halloween is one of the few truly secular holidays that brings everyone together regardless of race or religion. It creates a community and common pride that runs far beyond ideology. If church tracts show up in kids’ trick-or-treat bags, it erodes the trust and respect that Halloween provides for those of us who wish to make connections free of religious indoctrination.
Parents want candy and harmless treats for their kids on Halloween – not religious canon. In an open, egalitarian nation such as the United States, we should always leave a space for secular, collective fun.
Halloween should be a celebration that includes all kids, regardless of their ideological intentions. Let’s just keep Halloween the way it is: an exercise in creativity, celebration and neighborhood collaboration, free from invasive political religious messaging by extremists. By honoring this custom as a secular institution, we honor the norms of mutual respect and pluralism that characterize our country.
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