I’m currently living with my mom to help her out with her bills and rent.
Anyway, Halloween is coming up as you all know. Recently (well, this year, since last Halloween, suffice to say), mom has joined a church and gotten REALLY heavily into it. She’s one of those “loving God and praising him” types and trying to talk to people about Him and all that and trying to get them to go and get saved and all that stuff.
Me, I believe in God, but that is neither here or there or really relevant. I believe but I don’t say anything to anyone. I’m not the “tell others about it” type and I DEFINITELY don’t try to “win souls” or “recruit new members of the church” or anything like that. Mom isn’t so much either, but she IS more so like that than I am.
The last time she went to church, they gave her (and others) little cards that have the church number and address and all that on it and invite the person who gets it to a movie night (at the church), complete with free popcorn. They told people to hand them out on Halloween, so mom is planning on doing that…although that’s not all she’s going to be handing out, she’s going to be giving out candy too.
Now me, I don’t really feel all that good or right with handing out these cards. I know how people can get or react when you bring up things regarding God or church or religion, in general. I’m not that crazy about handing these out to all the kids we get and I’m thinking of saying “if you want to do it, then you do it”. I told her “Some people really don’t really like it when you push or force church or God onto them” and she is insisting that this isn’t doing that at all; that it’s just inviting them to a movie night with free popcorn at the local church. I countered with “It doesn’t matter…there will be SOME people out there that will still see this as ‘pushing God/church’ onto them. I know this, for sure.”
The cards really don’t have anything on them like bible verses or cross signs, either, they’re just a “come on out to blahblah church for free movie night” and then the address and number.
But what do you think? Am I making too big of a deal out of this? What would you think at getting one of these cards in your kid’s Halloween bag? Am I wrong in thinking that it could hit a soft spot with some people and/or make them look at us with a little bit (or a lot) less of a good opinion? Am I wrong in thinking that this IS a small way of “pushing” church/religion onto people?
Give me all of your thoughts or opinion on this.
TL;DR version: Mom wants to pass out cards that advertise free movie night at her church at Halloween (along with candy). I don’t feel right with it and think it’s not the greatest idea in the world.
What do you think?
I think there is no problem. Pamphlets, crayons, or turnips are not as desired as candy by children but I don’t see the issue with handing out literature on Halloween.
Which is why I’ll be handing out Snicker Bars with a little notes attached letting the little tykes know that there is no God. I can’t wait for all the parents to thank me.
Since the attention span of a child doesn’t extend too far past “Trick or Treat?”, there is going to be no connection between the (anonymous) card inviting children to an unexpected event at a church their parents may not have heard of before and probably don’t belong to.
Therefore, the odds she’s going to get spoken to about this are fairly low. However, the odds that some parents are going to be at least slightly discommoded (particularly if they happen to be, say, not Christian) are non-zero.
I’m surprised your mom is going to participate in trick or treat at all. My mom wasn’t crazy religious when we were growing up but she never has liked Halloween or trick or treat and didn’t hand out candy cuz Jesus.
If you show up at someone’s door and ask for free stuff you don’t get to choose what the free stuff is and what might be attached to it. As long as it’s. It razor blades or meth I think it’s fine.
I don’t think anyone will remember whose house it came from or care.
yeah a few people might actually show up but it wont be much different than the types that hand out jack chick tracts with a candy bar taped to them… besides tracts will be easier to get rid of than kittens …
Even when we got free coupons for a small fries at McDonald’s on Halloween, those got tossed, because no one was going to bung us in the car and drive us there for one stinking small packet of fries. ( It was full on everything, but we only went for the full monty on a special occasion, a birthday or something. Not like they do NOW.). … So, Chic tracts, church invites, other paper ephemera - no one really reads too close or takes them to heart. Is a kid going to say, ‘oh, mommy, do drive me to the church for a movie and candy’? It would be up to the parent, and 99 times out of 100, an open invitation to some church will go in the trash. Anyone making a BFD about it has some problem, IMO.
I think it’s a lot less confusing than the woman who gave us candy and a booklet that said that celebrating Halloween leads people down the path of devil worship.
If you mom wants to pass out those cards, it’s her business. You can participate or not as you wish.
When I was at my old place, I got a bundle of coupons for Allegra and gave those out with the Halloween pencils. For me, it was also a way to keep track of how many kids I had, because I counted them before and after.
I should add that I have done the pencil thing for many years, and that year was the only time a child complained. A little boy about 4 years old said “She doesn’t have candy!” and a woman with him (aunt? mom? grandma?) said, “You be thankful for what you get.”
A golden opportunity for parents to talk to their children about those odd people down the street who believe they can talk to supernatural beings who grant requests. We’ll examine their need to always be the center of attention no matter what and about how they get very, very upset if anyone questions them.
Christians have already somehow managed to make Christmas all about Jesus. Let the Pagans have Halloween. They’re a lot better at doing holidays anyway, frankly.
It’s inappropriate, because it is taking advantage of the access Halloween provides to foist something off onto minors that should be channelled through parents.
That said, it’s relatively harmless and if she’s hell-bent (heh) on doing it, there probably won’t be any consequences beyond a mildly annoyed parent or two.
Well, it’s better than giving no candy, and a card saying that Halloween is a Pagan holiday that honors Satan.
There’s no harm in what your mom’s doing, other than if everyone did something similar, the kids would wind up with trick or treat bags more full of junk mail than candy. And that’s no fun.
I doubt you’ll experience any negative consequences besides your front yard being covered in the garbage you handed the kids. No one will remember which house the Jesus stuff came from if they don’t notice it until the end of the night and if they notice it walking away unless a parent is standing there it’ll just get dropped on your lawn.
What’s the movie, and what’s that movie night like? My mother’s parish has done things such as show American History X within its Confirmation Catechesis. Another one in town hosts a small cartoons festival in the summer. The first was done within a religious context, the second has no more religion than “the parish of the Immaculate Conception is in a former school and has a good theater”.
I would suggest giving the candy to the kids and the card to the parents. If the kids are old enough to go TorT on their own, then they’re old enough to get the card as well.
For me, it was also a way to keep track of how many kids I had, because I counted them before and after.