In the United States, Halloween has become an increasingly popular holiday to decorate a home or apartment with a variety of props.
Typically these include such things as pumpkins, skeletons, black cats or bats.
However, in recent years it has become more of a contest to see which house is the scariest.
While decorating a house in a certain way isn't inherently sinful, there are particular decorations that cross the line.
An unnatural love of violence
Christians should question the use of overly violent decorations that are aimed at scaring people of all ages.
It has become common to see houses with splatters of fake blood, bloody handprints or dismembered bodies on the front lawn.
David Mills wrote an article for Aleteia about the rise of violent imagery connected to Halloween, relating the experience of a journalist:
The journalist Matthew Gindin shrugged too, until he had a child. Now, he writes in Forward, “I have a hard time imagining why I would want to expose my son to images of murder, death, evil, and supernatural terror for purposes of recreation.”
The Church is not afraid of contemplating death, as there is a long history of using skulls as a way to remind us of our mortality.
However, using grotesque images of violent deaths do not fall into that category.
As with any potential sin, one should consult a spiritual director or confessor and ask if a particular Halloween decoration is innocent or sinful.
We should also consider how our actions could affect others. If our decorations give children or adults nightmares that haunt them and lead them into a constant state of fear, it may not be a good idea.
Murder is most certainly a sin, and we should pause and think before we decorate our house in a way that glorifies it.
