Did the Pope of Agnosticism decree that? One way or anorther?
No, I think it was the Central Council of Agnosticism & Atheism, which ordered the Agnosticism & Atheism Thought Police to enforce this dictat
"I want candy" has nothing to do with any beliefs or the lack of. So, hell yeah....trick or treat?
Samhain, a feast for the end of the harvest and the door to winter. An actual tangible change of seasons. What's supernatural about that ?
Plus of course, knowing the dead can break through the veil for that one night......!
If you believe the dead can break through the veil for one night, then you believe in souls & ghosts, which are religious concepts.
Halloween comes when most of us in the northern hemisphere feel the first chill of winter, which makes us think of the coming death of things, so we atavistically want to celebrate death in a sort of Stockholm syndrome, where we think we can protect ourselves by identifying with the oppressor.
On a psychological & sciological level, we can understand this dynamic, but we should not glorify it, as it promotes a superstitious & "religious" world view
Depends on what you mean by celebrate, i.e. In christmas, for example, I am not opposed to gift giving or family gatherings, these are part of tradition and customs now, I do not pray or say anything religious whatsoever, why should halloween be different? There's nothing religious in going to parties dressed as cowboys or doctors, nor is it giving candy to kids, is there?
Since Halloween is a secular holiday, why not?
Like Christmas it is an excuse for retailers to sell useless rubbish to the gullible public.
I was really surprised in my visits to the US how seriously adults take halloween with virtually every garden full of witches,ghosts etc.
In the UK kids went "guising" carrying a "neep lantern" and that was it, but .like all things tacky "trick or treating" is being adopted here.
Bah humbug
Halloween has become a big merchandising hype for the greedy retailers to sell a lot of useless junk to the gullible public. It is right up there with Mothers Day & other synthetic holidays created by commercial interests to bilk consumers with more money than brains
Hell yes, celebrate the holiday just to have fun!
It's just another reason to celebrate. We do it at all the season changes. Religion co-opted our right to party.
The season change is celebrated in America by Thanksgiving, which origionally had religious overtones but basically is the harvest festival. Halloween has nothing to do with season change, except it comes when there is usually the first chill in the air, & people start thinking of the coming death of winter
Just go and have fun, if you will question every religious derived name, you will start having problems with the days of the week, with the months of the year, with street and city names, symbols, profession names etc.
Religion is part of the culture, and the folklore, there will always be something here and there even after the religion as a cult is dead.
So just enjoy and have fun.
If you need to calm down your antitheist core, think about the translation to portuguese where it is called witches day, and be happy in memory of the wise women that were killed because of their knowledge XD.
Except Halloween demonizes witches, who were wise women into natural healing & nature worship.Should we condone this repression of the female spirit that led to burning them at the stake?
It's basically a holiday that celebrates giving away candy, scaring the snot out of little children, & lurking in the bushes with a garden hose to drench any kid that looks like he has intentions of egging or toilet papering your house. Why not join in?
It’s not just that...
Celebrate sadism--BTW, candy is fattening & rots kids teeth
Regardless of what Halloween may have once been long ago, it is now a celebration of horror, There is nothing religious about it whatsoever.
So hell , yes, let's have some fun. It's a great holiday.
One of my favorite holidays! It has clear origins in pagan traditions. Plus, chocolate!
Halloween started out as a religious holiday (a Celtic one), but it is now basically a secular holiday. I can't think of anyone I know who takes it seriously. I didn't even take it seriously when I was a kid.
When we were kids we enjoyed Halloween and, even though my dad was a Catholic convert, there was no mention of religion. Just like yoga has nothing to do with religion some holidays don't either.
Yes. They should celebrate Halloween, because it's fun.
The most celebrated Irish holiday worldwide. @Tilia is correct.old beliefs and customs that predate xians and other religions. The changing of the seasons and remembering the dead. Lost forever is the original meaning , an echo left down the years ,the celebration of life and death.
Yes, absolutely. One of the fun festivals. Why not celebrate all the saints days individually if you want to. Raising objections to them is the same as JW!