THE GASM

sugarazor:

cognitivedissonance:

Happy Jesus Ween y’all:

A Calgary pastor is promoting Jesus Ween, a faith-based alternative to the traditional holiday fare of candy and spooky garb.

Instead of chocolate bars and gummy bears, he’s asking people to shun demonic costumes and instead dole out pocket-sized bibles or other “Christian gifts.”

The idea has caught on in communities across North America, according to Jesus Ween creator Paul Ade. He’s hoping it will bring a new perspective to an otherwise pagan festival, he said.

“I do not associate myself with ghosts, demons, Satan and witches. These are things I want to get rid of,” he said.

“If it’s OK for a child to know about demons, it should also be OK for a child to know about Jesus.”

Jesus Ween has attracted international attention, with media reports circulating as far away as Britain.
…
The pastor has 200 “kid-friendly” bibles ready to distribute to Calgary children on Monday. “I don’t think we’re ruining anybody’s fun. Getting a bible is not getting a bomb. It’s nothing really bad,” Ade said.

Remember when you though getting raisins and apples were the worst? Imagine the fury in the US if he were to create Allah-ween instead. 

My God. That sounds awfully close to “Halloween” - perhaps it’s best to lock the kiddies up! Or he could take the advice of another fellow pastor:

The insertion of Jesus into a harmless holiday reserved for treats and spooky pumpkins is a turnoff, argues John Van Sloten, the pastor of New Hope Church. “I think it’s awful. It feeds into the stereotype that to be a person who follows Christ is to be against everything outside of the church,” said Van Sloten. “I’m kind of appalled by someone doing this.”

The picture accompanying the article is hysterical when compared with the whole Halloween-the-satanic-holiday tone of the Jesus Ween Facebook and website. Instead of Christians “having to hide” on Halloween, they can give Bibles to monsters like these:

“Allah-ween” does sound bad ass though. But yeah, imagine if ANY other religion was handing out religious materials to trick-or-treaters. Imagine if I handed out pocket copies of Christopher Hitchens’ “God is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything.” I’d probably be in jail tomorrow.

My favourite part of the whole Jesusween story: http://magazine.shortlist.com/1G4e9d4d5790b53012.cde/page/30

- Andrew