Halloween Isn't Harmless, It's Satan, Says Pat Robertson

From the Huffington Post:

Your nephew may look adorable dressed up as Clark Kent, but he's no diminutive superhero -- he's actually celebrating Satan.

This is the public service announcement brought to you by conservative televangelist Pat Robertson, who used his program "The 700 Club" on Thursday to warn the vigilant about the dangers of Halloween "All Saints' Eve."

More here, with video.

A lot of people try to figure out the inciting incident, or incidents, that started our country down the road of what ultimately became a rather psychotic far right-wing influence on the body politic. Some cite the election of Reagan. Some talk about a backlash against the social change of the 60s and 70s. Some point to Nixon's "Southern Strategy," and so on. And they're all valid points to consider.

But, personally, I don't think enough attention is given to the rise of whacked out ideas and attitudes among Protestant evangelicals and fundamentalists. I mean, these ideas have been around for a long time, but it wasn't until the late 70s or early 80s that they start to become widespread and well known.

I remember, as a Southern Baptist child, going to Halloween parties in a church context. Everyone loved Halloween; everybody was into it. By the time I was in fifth or sixth grade, however, in 1979 and 1980, the spooky holiday had become forevermore a day of Satan. No more Halloween parties at church. To do so was to deal with the Devil. And it remains that way to this very day.

I think one can make a direct connection to this supernaturalization of Halloween and the magical realism that denies global warming, that says tax cuts equal greater tax revenues, that brand President Obama a communist, Nazi, Kenyan-born Muslim. Facts? Who needs facts? We have our beliefs, and our beliefs are strong!

And the first obvious sign of that was demonizing a beloved holiday thirty five years ago. Now THAT'S scary.

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