can't believe all the responses which such a dumb, inane question elicited.

Technically, no. But to each their own. I love Halloween and think it should be a month long event rather than just one day.

Celebrating any kind of holiday (Halloween, Christmas, Rosh Hashanah, Passover, etc) is more about getting together with family and friends than about any religious significance for me. Raised Catholic and married to a Jewish woman has no religious connotations for me. Maybe because of my prior affiliations I am adamant that I do not partake in the ceremonial aspects of these holidays. It is just fun time.

It's at the user's discression. I don't have any kids and don't want anyone knocking on my door begging for shit so by default I don't celebrate Halloween but I couldn't give a fuck less about if someone did or didn't.

Yes! My favorite holiday!!

Only if they want to, geez. It's just a thing people do to give an excuse to dress up and eat too much candy. I don't know anyone who believes in Halloween except some religious fanatics who actually believe it's the devil's holiday.

Yes children should trick or treat and get dressed up . I never really heard of its religious significance when I was a kid .

Yeah why bother throwing parties and having traditions, religious people own all that stuff.

If there is fun involved, why not? Or are the "spirit police" going to show up?

Hallowe'en, despite its origins and trappings, doesn't promote belief in said trappings. If anything it promotes diabetes and tooth decay. Should atheist kids be forbidden to watch Topper or Caspar? How about fairy tales? Fantasy has its uses.

g

Did you see the photo of Meryl Streep in Donald Trump orangeface? Celebrate Halloween, if for no other reason!

Hell yeah!

Halloween , like most other holidays , is what you choose to make of it . If you can't see anything beyond a religious related holiday , then that's what it is for you . As for me . I have an annual party , sometime in October , with fall / Halloween decorations , my guests come in LARP garb , we have a blast , and absolutely nothing is held in a religious manner .

All of our holidays have multiple contributions in their origins. If someone wants to celebrate Halloween by dressing up and having a party, who cares if it once had something to do with spirits and superstition? Heck! Christmas has "Christ" in tne name, but I wouldn't suggest that anyone should deprive themselves of festivities for that reason. We as non-believers don't need to act like the up tight religionists who would deprive themselves and their children tne enjoyment of holidays. If you need to invent an alternate reason for the holidays, we are certainly creative enough to find one or to create one. This is what Christians did after all. The Yule log, mistletoe, and holly have no Christian origin for Christmas; they just adapted and combined their new tradition with a well established one so new Christains didn't feel deprived by having to abstain from winter solstice celebrations and festivities.

I wouldn’t say I celebrate much of any holiday ever. My spirit of the season extends as far as being in the mood to watch spooky movies and eat candy. Nothin superstitious about that. I don’t believe in spirits but everyone’s susceptible to some good and/or campy horror. I also like the idea of people celebrating/remembering their dead, and the idea of putting on a mask or costume and feeling free of ones inhibitions. That’s the spirit of Halloween in its purest form to me. It’s catharsis from the restrictions of religion boiled into a party, ideally.

I think the commercialization of most any holiday is the worst part of it, but there’s a way to participate in the spirit of it that is completely healthy and completely secular/revolting against religion. If you’re an ignorant superstitious person youll celebrate in an ignorant superstitious way. If you’re not then you won’t. Halloween is no doubt cooler than all the other pagan holidays that religion coopted, evidenced by religion (at least the brand of conservative Christians in my area) largely still railing against it. It’s bothering them somethin awful for some reason, so it can’t be all bad Hail Satan!

Despite Odin and Frigg supposedly not liking/supporting it. It is a Pagan day that I like and I also don't have a problem with others that also like it. There is also education talk about the Flying Spaghetti Monster talk to the Norwegian, aka, Vikings/Norseman I also know that many Pastafarians like to participate in it.

Well ur not connected to anything so is up to u

Sure. It is a child's holiday. It started a fall festival where folk would wear gourds to ward off, or hide from, demons on their way home. The Catholic church polluted it trying to convert it to a Christian holiday. Unfortunately we live in a religious world. Exposure will not harm them. It also points out that it is not a Christian holiday.

1. That's a very narrow definition.
2. If they want to.

Yes, if they so wish.

I don't tend to celebrate any mass cultural events unless they have a personal meaning. I never understood celebrating because "it's tradition" "it's what ya do" "everybody's doing it". So I don't celebrate halloween, thanksgiving, christmas or new years. You can invite me, I'll go, but don't expect "happy" anything. If someone says it, I just say "Great party" and keep things lively. Surpringly, I still get invited!

That said I do celebrate my own personal list of scientific and atheist heroes and heroines, along with great discoveries and achievements.

For example I personally celebrate Hitchens' birthday, April 13 i think, with a small glass of Johnnie Walker scotch to honor his work and memory. I believe he would approve the sentiment, lol.

I also personally celebrate July 20th for two reasons: 1) the moon landing, I read up on all new space news I can find, and technical details about how NASA did it - still amazes me, and 2) watch 'Die Hard', which was released on that date, it's one of my favorite movies, and its makes me appreciate how good a movie can be made that is simple, uncomplicated, story - just great writing, direecting, and acting that still holds it's own.

Just find your own stuff to celebrate! There shpuld be more that enough real relevent stuff in your own life to celebrate.

If memory serve correct, 'Halloween' was originally what Xrstians choose to call 'a PAGAN celebration for the Dead BEFORE they did their usually thing and adopted and twisted it to suit themselves, therefore, YES, BUT celebrate as IT should be and NOT as Xrstianity would have it is my opinion.
Though, it is NOT as big a thing here in Australia as it is elsewhere .

Why not? its a good excuse to wear a costume. It can be a time of fantasy it doesn't have to be morbid, why not have fun?

I might add, should atheists or agnostics celebrate any holiday, since technically we would have no holy days whatsoever?

I hark back to the golem Constable Dorfl in Terry Pratchett's Discworld novels, one of that world's only atheists, who said, "Either All Days Are Holy, Or None Of Them Are." (That's how golems talk on the Discworld, just go with it.) And it should be noted that this was a fictional world where gods actually intervene, and live physically on a mountain, so it takes some chutzpah to be an atheist. He demanded rational proof of the existence of gods. When holy lightning struck him, melting his helmet off, Dorfl commented, "I Don't Call That A Very Convincing Argument."

It is folklaw and culture so therefore must be cultivated and examined. It was the only thing that legitimately put us on our guard with a bit of fun. Actually there were no laws involved . THEN they didn't need any.