http://www.thepunch.com.au/author-bios/john-dickson/ John Dickson is founding Director of the Centre for Public Christianity. After a career as a singer-songwriter he turned to study, completing a degree in theology and a doctorate in ancient history, specializing in the birth of Christianity. An ordained Anglican minister he is also a Senior Research Fellow of the Department of Ancient History, Macquarie University (Sydney, Australia), where he teaches a course on Christian origins. He has hosted two television documentaries airing nationally on Channel 7 (The Christ Files and Life of Jesus), authored over a dozen books and is a busy public speaker. en Copyright 2012 The Punch penberthyd@newsltd.com.au penberthyd@newsltd.com.au Sat, 26 May 2012 20:00:40 +0000 Sat, 26 May 2012 20:00:40 +0000 Politics, opinion, world news, sports news, latest news, views, Barack Obama, Kevin Rudd, Julia Gillard, Nathan Rees, Malcolm Turnbull, Peter Garrett, Barnaby Joyce, Australian, federal politics, opinion polls, election, The Punch, thepunch, punch ExpressionEngine 1.6.7 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss 15 http://www.thepunch.com.au/images/punch-logo-rss.png http://www.thepunch.com.au/ 144 70 Politics, political opinion, world news, sports news and the latest news and views updated live, daily on The Punch - Australia's best conversation. Search The Punch keywords http://www.thepunch.com.au/search/ http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/is-halloween-evil/ As a small group of Halloween-devotees in Martin Place this week protested that October 31 is not a national public holiday like Christmas, you can be sure that thousands of religious folk around the world are right now making the opposite demand: Halloween is evil and should be banned. I have been asked many times, both as an Anglican minister and as director of the Centre for Public Christianity: Is Halloween evil? Should Christians oppose it? My general feeling is that Halloween is no more ‘evil’ than Christmas. In fact, the two festivals have a bit in common. feedback@thepunch.com.au (John Dickson) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/is-halloween-evil/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/is-halloween-evil/#item4359 Fri, 29 Oct 2010 01:30:54 +0000 John Dickson | Author bios | The Punch