Posted on 10/20/2005 11:09:48 AM PDT by Millee
An Ellettsville family whose home is decorated for Halloween contacted police after someone placed on its porch a flier that suggests Halloween praises the devil.
Dalene Gully told Indianapolis television station WRTV that she took offense to the flier, which was placed outside her home by the House of Prayer Church of Bloomington.
"I started reading it, and I was very, very upset by it. I found it very accusatory and very threatening," Gully said.
The church's pastor, Larry Mitchell, said the people who left the flier would have preferred to talk with Gully, but she wasn't there.
Mitchell said the church didn't intend to upset the Gully family, but rather tell people that Halloween isn't harmless fun.
"Halloween is not fantasy," Mitchell said. "We're training up our children, and obviously this lady was trained up in this. Halloween seems like it is taking just as much prominence as Christmas."
The Gully family filed a complaint with the Ellettsville Police Department. The incident also prompted the family to install an alarm system at the home, the station reported.
"This is my home, and I like Halloween. If I want to decorate my home, I have every right to decorate my home," Gully said.
We have a fall festival for the kids at church around this time. We have so much fun. We do dunking booths and apple bobs etc. We ask for donations for tickets and the money raised is then used to fill shoeboxes for needy children and gifts for the elderly in a local nursing home at Christmas time. Everything for the festival is donated by families in the church so there is no expense in it and there is fun to be had for everyone.
Well, not mutually. The pastor has no free-speech rights on her property.
Many good things were invented by pagans. Pagans also can receive inspiration from God and they will be judged according to what they knew. Some parts of the Truth were revealed to the Jews or Christians through pagans.
But it is wrong for a Christian to actively participate in the rites of other religion.
It strikes me as particularly absurd for Christians, who in Our Lord have confidence against the wiles of real demons, to start or take offense at pantomime demons.
Damina....well said!!!
Like I said, if I finally reach my saturation point I will get my property posted. As of now, it's just more cellulose for my compost pile.
An Ellettsville family whose home is decorated for Halloween contacted police after someone placed on its porch a flier that suggests Halloween praises the devil....
..."I started reading it, and I was very, very upset by it. I found it very accusatory and very threatening," Gully said.
The woman took it as accusatory. If my house was decorated to the nines with Halloween decorations and I got a a flier that equated celebrating Halloween with worshiping Satan, I would conclude I was either being accused of being a Satan worshiper or a deluded fool. The front of the flier says "In Praise of the Devil...?"
A little love goes a long way. There is plenty of opportunity to speak the truth in love. This sort of thing just makes people mad.
When my son was dying, it wasn't any one in our church who showed us love. No one from my son's youth group, which he attended faithfully, ever visited him in a year and a half. They didn't even bother to send him a get well card.
I don't consider my former church to be a bad one, just one that didn't have a clue on how to implement John 13:34,35 (like 99.99% of all churches). The person who showed my son and our family the most love was a non-Christian nurse who was possibly a lesbian.
Note to the House of Prayer (and all other churches): if you want to grow your church, stop circulating fliers and find a family with a dying child and love them in the name of Jesus.
LOL!!! Some people would find a picture of Calvin "very scary".
That's a good post. It's a hard question, at least for me to answer. I don't know what to think about the Meiers nomination.
When does the argument 'the democrats will be worse' no longer stick? I know that for my own sake I would never back a pro-choice republican. It is so hard to meld our own conservative ideals into a big tent party. On the other hand what else are we going to do?
While i don't believe that the U.S. is predominately liberal I don't see a whole lot of emphasis on a strong, lawful society, do what thou wilst is becoming the standard mantra on both sides of the political divide. I don't like to be a pessimist but I worry a bit about '06 and definitely wonder what will come our way in '08.
All in all, I voted for Bush so if things go haywire, I'm responsible in a way.
As far as the forum itself this place changes a lot. I couldn't tell you how the forum will respond to a GOP breakdown. If there is really going to be one. After all, the MSM will be the one fueling that and I don't trust them for anything.
Leafletting is permitted by law in that neighborhood (and most neighborhoods). I get threatening pizza coupons all the time.
That's usually a sign of someone that don't know much
Do you all understand what is going on in this country? Christians are being persecuted here now! These people called the police over a flier, and the media reports it? This is so wrong, and yet it is happening over and over again in this supposed freedom of religion country of ours.
The article is not complaining about 'flyers' in general. It is complaining about certain ideas expressed on the flyer which say Halloween is evil. The ridiculous thing is how some people try to act like this view against Halloween is new, or suddenly extreme. Differing views have been around as long as anyone can remember and no one ran to the authorities and whined, we just ignored it.
I ignore most flyers that come to my house and I don't look for some way to feel 'threatened' just so I can justify going to authorities. So much ridiculous whining.
I understand. I agree with you. I personally love Halloween, and I am a Christian. My son went to a Christian school that was very anti-Halloween. I can understand why a church wouldn't participate in Halloween activities, but I don't think that people who dress up and go trick or treating are doing anything evil.
Are you saying or implying that someone was in violation of the law? I think they were within their rights and I have studied this issue for years, but I could be wrong if they have a local ordinance.
In general we do have free speech rights, but someone can tell us to leave their property if that is their wish.
If you are making more than just a statement about the limitations of free speech in general, please publish the ordinance you are using for your claim. Otherwise it is no big deal and I understand you were just making a statement about the exception to the default of the law.
They could only make that claim if they were the only ones targeted. If the flyers are being left at all the homes, then no one person's beliefs, or lack therof, are being singled out.
Are you saying that the flyers were printed up for this house alone? Not likely.
Or are you saying that unless you leave a flyer at all houses, you may not leave one at any house?
Of course this claim does not agree with First Amendment legal history and certainly not American civil history. This narrow view is actually one that would agree with someone like Barry Lynn or the ACLU.
Well, I would say that the "Christians" were the ones doing the persecuting in this case. (Not really, but I hope you get my point - I'm sure the lady felt she was being persecuted for her beliefs, or lack thereof, by the Christians).
I wonder if it's possible that the church was unaware . . . our rector announces periodically from the pulpit for people please to let him know if someone is ill or in the hospital -- because the new privacy laws prohibit the hospitals from contacting anyone and telling them that someone has been hospitalized -- even that person's own church, even with permission. It has made it very difficult for the church to keep on top of hospital visits and sick calls.
If that is not the case, and they were aware but did nothing, I hope you let them know, after you had recovered from your grief. Sometimes what folks need is a swift kick/wakeup call. They're not mean or ignoring their duty, they just get preoccupied.
No; I was responding to GovernmentShrinker's post that seemed to indicate that he thought that. I was suggesting that it is ridiculous to assume that only certain individuals are being targeted and that unless that was the case, the individual that was doing the complaining couldn't claim that his/her beliefs were being attacked because chances are that the flyers were passed around the entire neighborhood and did not single out anyone, as is typical with churches passing out literature.
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