Was Anton Szandor LaVey (1930-1997), founder of the Church of Satan correct about Halloween? He said it is the only time of year that parents let their children worship Satan.
I think Halloween is a wonderful time of year to be sure. So anti -American and antiestablishment. But I think that maybe a little too strong.
What do the rest of you think?
:):)
Halloween is Anti-American? In which way? It’s one of our most popular traditions.
My parents wouldn’t let me worship Satan on Halloween. I bet all the other kids got to worship Satan on Halloween.
And yeah, giving away things for free is definitely anti-American and anti-establishment.
Dressing up in a costume and asking the neighbors for candy is not an act of worship, period. He must have meant some other aspect of Halloween, but what? Anything involving overt occult worship is not something that “parents let their kids do”, by and large.
Going to Target and spending $100 on candy and costumes that only get worn once is very American.
Well yeah, for the parents is as American as it can get. But most of the kids are learning a terrible lesson. Some of them learn to sell their candy to kids who don’t have any so there is a bright side.
Halloween is about as much about Satan as Christmas is about Jesus. Maybe Jesus has a slight lead; but not that much. Santa’s overthrow was pretty complete and well planned. 
Who said anything about giving stuff away for free? The youngest kids may have problems with it but the older ones have certainly have no problems extorting their neighbours for treats.
Sounds like the same thing Jack Chick and other fundamentalist Christians believe. Anton Lavey is as wrong as they are. (Though I suspect Anton wasn’t entirely serious.)
Still baffled at why anyone would consider Halloween anti-American. Horror flicks are as American as apple pie. And a lot of Halloween isn’t really scary any more. It’s little kids dressed as Disney and MCU characters (but I repeat myself), and young adults dressing up as various things and getting drunk. Even the haunted houses are mostly Kitsch.
How is anything related to the All-American pastime of Halloween “Satan Worshiping”? I can’t see it.
We dressed up and went for candy. Maybe played a trick, maybe some TPing. We never said a black mass, drew pentagrams, or even played Led Zeppelin albums backwards, nothing!
I suppose if you’re one of those people who thinks America=fundamentalist Christianity, then anything that even playfully seems to be “supporting” witches, devils, demons, etc. must be anti-Christian and therefore anti-American.
The closest that Halloween gets to Satan worship is that it carried the barest dregs of some non-christian religion or another, sort of like how the Santa version of Christmas carries the barest dregs of christianity in its candy canes and tree-topping stars. Conflating that non-christian religion with Satan worship is, of course, a gross error.
Not even that. Halloween is, according to at least one version of its origin story, a Christian holiday, having nothing to do with Satan.
Anton LeVay was technically an atheist. He said he used “Satan” as a metaphor for rebellion against the religious Establishment.
In my opinion, he did the Black Mass mainly to shock the rubes.
this. as far as I looked into it, LaVeyan “Satanism” was little more than “do what thou wilt, give in to temptation, actually enjoy life but harm no one else” as opposed to the Abrahamic religious ideal of “do without and be glad to suffer here on Earth because we totally promise there’ll be paradise after you die. Nobody’s been able to confirm that, but we have this book that says it’ll happen.”
the panic in the '80s and '90s about people “sacrificing” others in Satanic rituals was just some bullshit fueled by a rare few psychos. and if you’ve actually read the Bible, God was the one demanding sacrifices, not Satan.
Especially when the grownups don’t hand over the candy. Then the toilet paper and eggs get thrown.
T’Ping sounds like the Vulcan or perhaps Romulan version of Halloween
The things it ‘worships’ are certainly anti American. Witches, Devils and axe-wielding psychos. I am especially reminded of the Adams family comics and one showing them pouring a cauldron onto some Christmas Carolers.
(I assume your post was rather tongue-in-cheek, as is mine:).)
Not tongue-in-cheek, completely serious question. And aren’t the Addams Family American?