I’m now starting to think that if a Christian parent has to go so far as to stop their kids from celebrating Halloween in all its “glory”, then the parent probably doesn’t have much faith to begin with. And, like Kevin so astutely pointed out, most of those same parents probably don’t let their kids read Harry Potter; and they probably got up in arms over The DaVinci Code, too. (And oddly enough, I was also not allowed to go trick-or-treating, or to dress as anything “evil” for Halloween (though, one year, I went to a church party as the Witch of Endor–she who counseled King Saul after that whole war debacle). At the moment, I am “meh” about the day; but then, I’m thinking I’ve become somewhat cynical over the years anyway.)

Yet, of course, they’re totally into the Lord of the Rings trilogy (which, from my understanding, is far more violent than HP) and would let their kids see or read Narnia (which is also in the fantasy genre, like HP). And, of course, those parents–more likely than not–also love them some Christmas (its Pagan roots notwithstanding) and probably think there’s a “war” on it because more people in general say “Happy Holidays” than “Merry Christmas”, even though the word “holiday” means “holy day”. I swear; the ignorance of some Christians out there is astonishing.

On a more serious note, I live near a pretty evangelical place in the States (Wheaton, IL) and it seems to me that most Christians here aren’t so weird as to not celebrate Halloween. That said, there is a church near me that had a Harvest Celebration, which I’m sure you know to be the fundamentalist code for a “safe” alternative to Halloween. No devil worship or child sacrifice at a Harvest Celebration, unlike at those pagan parties. I’d say the Christians that avoid Halloween are the same ones that think Harry Potter teaches witchcraft. Ironically, many of those Christians love the Narnia series, which, like Christmas, is also chock full of pagan stuff.