Removing Christendom from Halloween

Its nearing the end of October and a Christian's thoughts turn to All Hallows E'en. And so to controversy. Steve Hollinghurst has some helpful things to say and the thesis he puts forward is intriguing. There are some 'makes you think' insights in there, for example. "i find it interesting to compare the Halloween witches mask with the Nazi depiction of Jews, you will find them rather similar with hooked noses, green skin and warts. and this is the bit so many folks don't get, the wearing of these masks at Halloween is not a celebration of evil or witchcraft, but actually a piece of anti-Pagan propaganda invented by Christians and stemming from medieval Christian celebrations of All Hallows Eve."

The practical suggestion Steve makes following his analysis and identification of commercialism as the new Christendom, is this: "so how about a properly informed collaboration between Pagans and Christians to remove Christendom from Halloween? leaving both faiths free to celebrate a festival centred around their beliefs about the important subject of death and the relationship with our dead ancestors?
if we do this i add one thing that should not be banished, a place to also acknowledge our fear of death, the supernatural and evil. banishing the imagery of this from Halloween won't take away the fear, it just relegates it to places where we cannot face it together and handle it constructively, if differently in our two faith traditions. so i make a plea for renewed celebrations not to lose this element at least from both the medieval Halloween and its Pagan forerunner."
I think that's right: we need to be able to do something that doesn't collaborate with the sanitising of death and fear. Our culture desperately needs ways to face such things; that's the real victim of the consumerist hijack.
Thanks Steve.
On Earth as in Heaven: Removing Christendom from Halloween: