[Times photos: Stefanie Boyar]
Steve Penney portrays Jesus in a scene with Rebecca Geno and Andrea Long during Brandon Assembly of God's presentation of Judgment House. The Christian alternative to Halloween is intended to show visitors the consequences of their decisions.
Bradley Schwab, 15, of Largo is hit in the face with a sponge while running a game in the children's tent during First Baptist Church of Indian Rock's Country Jamboree. The church is in Largo.
TAMPA - Strange as it may sound, today of all days, Jeanelle Routh's children know nothing of trick-or-treating.
They will not dress up like witches and ghosts tonight. And one word has never been spoken at their Valrico home: Halloween.
To 4-year-old Myles and 6-year-old Morgan, today is simply Oct. 31.
"When we go to stores and people ask, "What are you going to be for Halloween?' they've learned to say, "We celebrate fall,"' said Routh, a church accountant. "Halloween is about scary things and dark things. Our focus is on God."
Tonight, Routh will take her children to First Baptist Church of Brandon for its Noah's Arkcade event. Dressed as characters from Bob the Builder, they will play games and win treats with dozens of other children who also are forgoing the usual holiday trappings of candy collecting and haunted houses.
While devilish costumes and creepy themes still rule on Halloween, a growing movement seeks to zap the demons out of the holiday, and much of it appears to be church-based.
Instead of trick-or-treating, Tampa Bay residents can take their kids to a Hallelujah Party, God's Harvest Festival and a Country Jamboree. Also, a host of fall festivals do not require costumes, and in most cases, do not mention goblins.
The increasing number of Halloween alternatives is the latest in the ongoing religious battle over the holidays, said Dell deChant, a religious studies instructor at the University of South Florida. The reason? The growing commercialism of Halloween.
"There are so many people who are celebrating Halloween in public ways," he said, "that it has mobilized the religious resistance."
Supporters say it's about religion, but also safety. No need to have children wandering the streets and parents fretting over tainted candy.
"Halloween is a time when kids can really get in trouble if you're not careful," said Tom Hudgins, founder and president of Judgment House, a Clearwater-based drama.
The production, begun in 1983 as an alternative to Halloween, is being presented this weekend at Calvary Baptist Church in Clearwater, Brandon Assembly of God and First Baptist Church of Lutz. The evangelical drama, designed for teens and adults, depicts life after death from a Christian perspective.
Religion will also take main stage at First United Methodist Church of Seffner. God's Harvest Festival and Craft Fair will feature biblically based games.
"I don't think kids need to be scared," said Diana Brink, 33, whose daughter will dress as Mary and one of two of her sons will be a shepherd boy. "We're trying to keep God as the center, not the evil."
Children may wear costumes, but they're asked to avoid scary ones.
That's not the case at Tampa's Bayshore United Methodist Church, where a Hallelujah Party gets under way Friday night. The event features food, games and candy, but no costumes.
"We want to avoid the kind of scary costumes kids sometimes wear," said John Guedes, minister of congregational care.
For many Christians, Halloween is a confusing holiday. It began as a pagan event in which spirits of the dead were believed to roam the Earth. It later evolved into a prelude to Christianity's All Saints Day on Nov. 1.
Some Christians believe they are supporting satanic rituals by participating, while others prefer to think of it as a harmless children's holiday separate from their beliefs.
"A lot of people feel like it glorifies satanism and witchcraft," said the Rev. Charlie Martin, pastor of First Baptist Church of Indian Rocks. "It's not an issue I choose to get into personally."
Martin's church marks the day with a two-decade-old event called the Country Jamboree, a carnival and music celebration that runs through Sunday. He sees it as a safe and positive alternative, and a chance to reach out to the unchurched.
At the end of events this weekend, he will deliver a brief sermon.
The Rev. Dean Reule's church, Cypress Point Community Church in New Tampa, celebrated last weekend with a harvest-themed event, the Great Pumpkin Patch.
He has no theological contention with Halloween. In fact, he will take his children trick-or-treating tonight. One will dress as a hippie, another as Winnie the Pooh and another as a witch.
While he's aware of Halloween's origins, "a thousand years later, kids dressed as Barney going house to house, I don't know that it carries that dark baggage anymore," Reule said.
At the other end of the holiday spectrum is Christian bookstore owner Carol Cameron. The Halloween debate plays out at her South Tampa store, Sign of the Fish, where shoppers can pick up a free flier, "Ten Reasons Christians Should Not Celebrate Halloween."
"To me, it's Satan's high holy day," said Cameron, who has her Halloween evening all planned out. "I will turn off my lights and pretend I'm not there. I can't go to the door and say to the children how cute they look because I'd be hypocritical."
Religion aside, Beach Park School will put a new twist on the holiday.
The children at the private Montessori school will come dressed in patriotic costumes, culminating a study of colonial America. The school doesn't endorse any holiday, and commercialism is one reason why.
"I think kids get enough of that on TV," said Ann Winkler, director of education. "It doesn't have to be in their school too."
- Times researcher Cathy Wos contributed to this report. Melanie Ave can be reached at 813 226-3400 or melanie@sptimes.com
