# Was Anton LaVey Correct (Halloween)?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-anton-lavey-correct-halloween/842801>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [October 31, 2019, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-anton-lavey-correct-halloween/842801 "2019-10-31T20:10:53Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![RioRico](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f04885/32.png) [@RioRico](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RioRico)\
**Post date:** [November 1, 2019, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-anton-lavey-correct-halloween/842801/21 "2019-11-01T23:49:26Z")

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Puritans banned celebrations of XMas as papist mummery. Those were the days! Of course mideast mystery religions, including the many inconsistent Xian sects, grabbed clickbait material (especially luscious goddesses and snarling daemons) from any handy source, so any holy-day contains heathen elements. Ban them all? NO!

I recall candy-worship, not devil-worship, in my Los Angeleno suburban youth, when packs of unguarded kids haunted the cul-de-sacs, howling hideously at smog-shrouded stars and cowering dogs. Costumes were cheap and the candy wasn’t exactly premier grade. We survived.

Anton LaVey was a performer. Performers are paid to stretch our credulity. He did so.

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**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\
**Post date:** [November 2, 2019, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-anton-lavey-correct-halloween/842801/22 "2019-11-02T01:39:27Z")

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> [@Jim\_B](#):
>
> Was [Anton Szandor LaVey](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anton_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.

He was wrong.

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**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\
**Post date:** [November 2, 2019, 8:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-anton-lavey-correct-halloween/842801/23 "2019-11-02T08:43:54Z")

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> [@jz78817](#):
>
> 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.”

Christian, not “Abrahamic”.

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**Author:** ![Mighty\_Mouse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mighty_mouse/32/7776_2.png) [@Mighty\_Mouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mighty_Mouse)\
**Post date:** [November 2, 2019, 11:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-anton-lavey-correct-halloween/842801/24 "2019-11-02T11:49:35Z")

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> [@Alessan](#):
>
> Christian, not “Abrahamic”.

And Muslim, definitely. And surely some elements in Judaism as well, but you have to die twice in Judaism!

Everything I know about Judaism I learned from Cultural Jews (i.e. atheists) so it might be somewhat unreliable 🙂

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