Religious Right Columnist: Halloween Candy a Demonic Threat -- Ridicule Prompts CBN.com to Remove Column

In a column posted yesterday on the Web site of Pat Robertson's Christian Broadcasting Network, writer Kimberly Daniels issued an ominous warning:

[M]ost of the candy sold during this season has been dedicated and prayed over by witches. I do not buy candy during the Halloween season. Curses are sent through the tricks and treats of the innocent whether they get it by going door to door or by purchasing it from the local grocery store. The demons cannot tell the difference.

Unable to resist demonic temptation, Rev. Barry Lynn of Americans United for Separation of Church and State had a little fun with this one, via press release. Lynn said:

I’ve heard of the devil being in the details, but to think he’s lurking inside a Snickers bar is a little too much. Pat Robertson has always peddled some scary stuff, but this is over the top.

Once the ridicule started rolling in, CBN removed Daniels' piece, but the gist of her argument can be found here, on the site of Charisma magazine.

Halloween, with its roots in the ancient pagan beliefs of the Celtic peoples, as long been a favorite bugaboo of the religious right. Here's Daniels breakdown of what those witches are up to when they're not busy praying over chocolate bars:

The danger of Halloween is not in the scary things we see but in the secret, wicked, cruel activities that go on behind the scenes. These activities include:

• Sex with demons

• Orgies between animals and humans

• Animal and human sacrifices

• Sacrificing babies to shed innocent blood

• Rape and molestation of adults, children and babies

• Revel nights

• Conjuring of demons and casting of spells

• Release of "time-released" curses against the innocent and the ignorant.

She riffs on about the "dedicated colors" of orange and brown -- dedicated, that is to pagan deities.

The irony here is the religious right love of Christmas, also a holiday with roots in the pagan faith of the very same Celts. The church set the celebration of Jesus' birthday (a date no one knows) to fit with Yule, the ancient European winter solstice celebration. That mistletoe? A sacred talisman of the Druid priests. Red and green? "Dedicated" colors, long before they referred to the birth of the Savior.

Daniels even warns against allowing teenagers to gather around bonfires, since gatherings around fires were also part of pagan ritual.

As for that Christmas Yule log? Beware of demons lurking.

Happy Samhain, everybody!