The main pagan route is the Celtic festival of Samhain. what pagan roots and what's the continuation of the influence of those roots. Now the issue of pagan roots just needs to be considered a bit. He's written the book Halloween: From Pagan Ritual to Party Night. He's a professor of history, York University in Canada. And by the way, Nicholas Rogers is helpful for this on the historical side. I just want to give you some ammunition, some theological and historical ammunition for thinking this issue through.
It's also a big deal and I recognize many Christians, Christian families, young people are trying to think through what Halloween means. This commercialism, he writes, fortifies its significance as a time, but public license, a custom designed opportunity to have a blast, regardless of its spiritual complications. In terms of its retail potential, it is second only to Christmas. When we talk about the size and scope of Halloween, Nicholas Rogers has reported, "Halloween is currently the second to most important party night in North America. And what he was really writing about was the fear that a society that had once been shaped by Christianity, having abandoned that Christianity, is now spiritually defenseless against the spirits of the dark side and make no mistake, those are exactly what are being celebrated in what Americans call Halloween. he was writing about this great clash of spiritual forces in the 20th century. Herman Bavinck, and he was writing from the Netherlands, but he did visit the United States. That means a great clash of worldviews, but it also means a spiritual battle. Herman Bavinck, the great Dutch theologian, over a hundred years ago said that the 20th century would exhibit "a gigantic conflict of spirits". I think for Christians, the great danger is looking and see less than is there. Sometimes you look and see less than is there. When you're looking at this kind of cultural occasion, sometimes you look and you see more than is there.
Now, as you think about a cultural celebration like Halloween, which now by the way, is one of the big five in consumer spending in the United States.
And Halloween is one of those moments when we see it on display. Well, we're looking at a clash of worldviews all around us.
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