Christian Conditioning and Candy

When I was taking psychology classes in the early 1970's, operant conditioning was all the rage. We trained rats and that. At the time, psychology was very suspect and not respected. Fundamentalist Christians shunned therapy and the humanistic idea that people's thought processes could be measured and analyzed, physically or any other way.

Now, 35 to 40 years later, conditioning is considered immoral and passe, so *now* some Christians discover it and want to use it to condition children to associate particular candies with Bible characters and stories.

Another conditioning story concerning Jack-o-Lanterns is here.

More scary Halloween stuff

This came by e-mail as a press release from Xulon.com in 2007

Ghosts, Ghouls, and Gospel Collide on Halloween Night

Christianly cravings offer a treat for kids’ hearts and minds

LONGWOOD, FL—Halloween is a time for ghosts, ghouls, and…the gospel? Thea Foltz’s clever teaching tool, Tombstone Treats for God’s Kids ($11.99, paperback, 978-1-60266-515-6), allows parents to offer a few hours of fun that is Bible-based, exciting, and rewarding all at the same time. “Church children” may look at sweets and treats differently for the rest of their lives! Set up as a graveyard tour, Tombstone Treats for God’s Kids teaches children to hear unique rhyming epitaphs for Bible characters who lived and died long ago. These epitaphs make Bible facts, Bible history, and Bible lessons fun to listen to. Children will also receive a treat at each tombstone. Each treat is uniquely tied in with each Bible character’s story and will serve as a reminder of that person. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if, after this tour, children thought of the Bible each time they had a piece of candy?

Says Foltz, “The book will bring the Bible into everyday thoughts after children go through the tombstone treat tour. It’s a great and fun way to learn. Sweets and treats that kids eat every day will remind them of something or someone in God’s Word.”

As an elementary teacher in her church for many years, Foltz realized there were many things competing for the attention of children. She wrote this book to help serve as a magnet for God. “I am no expert in any way when it comes to children, but I do know God’s Word changes a person,” she says.

Xulon Press, a part of Salem Communications Corporation, is the world’s largest Christian publisher, with more than 4,000 titles published to date. Retailers may order Tombstone Treats for God’s Kids through Ingram Book Company and/or Spring Arbor Book Distributors. Salem Communications is the country’s leading Christian communications company with interests in radio, Internet, and magazine publishing. Go to your local bookstore and request or:

Websites available: Target.com Cokesbury.com Amazon.com Xulonpress.com

2024 update on that book... It's still out there, at many more places than the original four.