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Is Santa silly?

Arran

I'm writing this as someone who doesn't celebrate Christmas in either a religious or cultural sense. From a young age I was told that Santa doesn't exist and is just a silly hoax that parents play on their kids. It never affected me in any bad way and neither was I expecting to find wrapped presents mysteriously appear on the morning of the 25th day of December. If anybody in my family received a Christmas gift then it was usually opened on the same day. A downside to this is that even from the age of 4 or 5 I went round telling kids at school "Father Christmas isn't real, it's all made up, your parents buy Christmas presents from the shops" which often resulted in me getting into trouble whenever they got upset. I once had to report to the head teacher after completely reducing a classmate to tears.

Is the concept of Santa a silly nonsense or is it part of the joys of childhood? Do you tell your own children the truth or would you prefer to go along with the cultural norm? Is pleasing one's classmates more important than knowing the truth? What about children at school who follow different religions so do not celebrate Christmas - where do they fit in?

Parents

  • LiquidSunshine said:
    Arran, that's a reasonable question to bring up about the matter, but I honestly don't think it's an issue.


    It is an issue. If a school is sufficiently 'multicultural' in the right way then the families of its children will fit into three categories:


    1. Those who follow religions other than Christianity and do not celebrate Christmas. The so called magic of Christmas does not apply to children in these families any more than the magic of Laylat ul Qadr or Navaratri applies to children from a notionally Christian family. Most of these children who follow other religions will find the concept of large numbers of parents telling their children a blatant lie about Santa delivering them Christmas presents downright crazy to say the least. Not believing in the religious aspect of Christmas or holding the stance that Jesus was an irrelevent / fictitious person is one thing, but a blatant lie to children from their own parents in this day and age is another thing. 


    2. Those who want to tell the truth about Santa to their children. These families range from devout Christians to staunch atheists but they all have a common factor in believing that Santa is a silly innovation and children should know the truth from the outset. They don't believe that Santa is part of the innocence of childhood or harmless fun. They believe it is trickery and deception.


    3. Those who continue to propagate the lies about Santa to their children. These families probably constitute the majority on a national basis but not all are Christian. In fact I have encountered numerous families who are atheist to the core who celebrate Christmas (in a fun and consumerist way) and lie to their children about Santa delivering them presents because they think it's part of the joys of childhood or everybody else does it.


    In such a school children from families in categories 1 and 2 will inevitably tell children from families in category 3 the truth and cause some upset in the process. People like LiquidSunshine can argue as much as they like about tolerance and respect but it could also be argued that the concept of Santa is less of a matter of religion and more of a matter of British popular culture. There are many Christians who do not embrace the Santa lie and atheists who do embrace it. Therefore comparing an aspect of a religion other than Christianity to parents lying about Santa to their children is making a like versus unlike comparison. One cannot debunk  religious beliefs without a sufficient level of theological knowledge beforehand but any man on the street with an ounce of common sense can debunk the Santa lie.


    As for the comments about imagination and fantasy. I don't buy into that. I used to watch many cartoons contaning fantasy and science fiction as a child but I knew that certain aspects of them were fantasy and not to be taken as being the truth. The Santa lie is propagated to children as being the truth by parents who fully well know that it is falsehood.

Reply

  • LiquidSunshine said:
    Arran, that's a reasonable question to bring up about the matter, but I honestly don't think it's an issue.


    It is an issue. If a school is sufficiently 'multicultural' in the right way then the families of its children will fit into three categories:


    1. Those who follow religions other than Christianity and do not celebrate Christmas. The so called magic of Christmas does not apply to children in these families any more than the magic of Laylat ul Qadr or Navaratri applies to children from a notionally Christian family. Most of these children who follow other religions will find the concept of large numbers of parents telling their children a blatant lie about Santa delivering them Christmas presents downright crazy to say the least. Not believing in the religious aspect of Christmas or holding the stance that Jesus was an irrelevent / fictitious person is one thing, but a blatant lie to children from their own parents in this day and age is another thing. 


    2. Those who want to tell the truth about Santa to their children. These families range from devout Christians to staunch atheists but they all have a common factor in believing that Santa is a silly innovation and children should know the truth from the outset. They don't believe that Santa is part of the innocence of childhood or harmless fun. They believe it is trickery and deception.


    3. Those who continue to propagate the lies about Santa to their children. These families probably constitute the majority on a national basis but not all are Christian. In fact I have encountered numerous families who are atheist to the core who celebrate Christmas (in a fun and consumerist way) and lie to their children about Santa delivering them presents because they think it's part of the joys of childhood or everybody else does it.


    In such a school children from families in categories 1 and 2 will inevitably tell children from families in category 3 the truth and cause some upset in the process. People like LiquidSunshine can argue as much as they like about tolerance and respect but it could also be argued that the concept of Santa is less of a matter of religion and more of a matter of British popular culture. There are many Christians who do not embrace the Santa lie and atheists who do embrace it. Therefore comparing an aspect of a religion other than Christianity to parents lying about Santa to their children is making a like versus unlike comparison. One cannot debunk  religious beliefs without a sufficient level of theological knowledge beforehand but any man on the street with an ounce of common sense can debunk the Santa lie.


    As for the comments about imagination and fantasy. I don't buy into that. I used to watch many cartoons contaning fantasy and science fiction as a child but I knew that certain aspects of them were fantasy and not to be taken as being the truth. The Santa lie is propagated to children as being the truth by parents who fully well know that it is falsehood.

Children
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