Christian Right Plans Holy Havoc for Halloween

Halloween is in the air and I'm wondering what costume my eight-year old granddaughter will be wearing this year when I take her out "trick or treating." Other folks may be just starting to stack-up bags of candy to pass out to the legions of kids in costumes, or carving up pumpkins, throwing up some decorations and, the most ambitious among us, are finalizing plans for turning their garage or front lawns into a mini-haunted house.

For some fundamentalist Christians, the coming of Halloween either signals another dart to the heart of traditional values, or it offers an opportunity to scare the living daylights out of teenagers. Take the good folks in Warren County, Ohio. There, the Rev. Randy Ballard, pastor of the Kings Point Church of God, has put together his demented adaptation of a "Hell House," which is set to run for two weekends beginning in mid-October.

The Associated Press reports that the Rev. Ballard claims that his "Hell House" is "meant to show teens the effects of sin. It involves a tour through five scenes in hell, including the funeral of a gay man who has died of AIDS; a young woman who has had an abortion; a teen who has committed suicide; a drug overdose at a party; and a car crash involving a drunken father and his children."

Unlike Topeka, Kansas' infamous Rev. Fred Phelps whose Westboro Baptist Church has set the standard for anti-gay remonstrations, the Rev. Ballard takes pains to explain, "we are not saying all homosexuals with AIDS die in hell. We are showing the effects of sin -- what happens when, in a hypothetical situation, a homosexual has AIDS and dies and has not repented their sins."

The Rev. Ballard's "Hell House" was roundly criticized by Doreen Cudnik, executive director of Stonewall Cincinnati, who said that the Rev. Ballard's church "is out of touch with AIDS in the year 2000. To say gay equals AIDS equals burning in hell has the dangerous potential to lead to hate crimes against the gay community." In addition, Vern Baldwin, general manager of WNLT in Fairfield, Ohio, said radio spots placed by the church that have been running on the station will be put on hold until he has an opportunity to review them. "We're not out to offend anyone," says Baldwin.

For years some Christian parents have raised well, holy hell, over the celebration of Halloween -- particularly at public schools that allow the young kids to parade around the school yard in their costumes, play a few games, and have some juice and cookies at the end of the day. These kinds of celebrations don't sit well with, admittedly a small number, of fundamentalist Christian parents. To them, Halloween has religious overtones and is steeped in pagan rituals, celebrating icons that could be identified with witchcraft and possibly satanic cults. Thus, for Halloween and Halloween only, fundamentalists support the separation of church and state -- with demands that Halloween celebrations be banned from the public schools.

Fundamentalists have also taken the battle to the nation's supermarkets, convincing several supermarket chains, including Publix in most of Florida and south Georgia, not to mention the "H" word in its television or print ads. Since "H" has become one of the three biggest holidays of the year for retailers, dropping the mention of "H" in favor of warm and fuzzy sounding terms like "Oktoberfest" or "Fall Festival" was a considerable concession. However, Publix hasn't gone totally anti-"H" -- it still uses the word in ads in Miami and Atlanta city markets.

Scaring Teens Straight

What's happening in Warren County represents only the tip of the "Hell House" iceberg. "Hell House" events are being readied for local churches all across the country. The "Hell House" concept gives Christian parents an alternative activity for their children, and in most cases kids have to be at least 10 years or older, and often must be accompanied by an adult. At its core, the Christian Right's worst cultural nightmares are presented as macabre public displays or "spiritually-based adventures" during which the goal is to scare kids straight.