Friday Question: Should Christians tell their children that Father Christmas (Satan Claus) is not real?
I have noted something of a surge in the Christian online world relating to the myth of Santa Claus in regard to our children.
Some of this has been sparked by the Catholic Archbishop of Argentina following his surprise pronouncement to the children that Santa Claus was not real, but instead a commercialized symbol of Christmas.
Here’s some of what he said:
“That’s not Christmas,” Archbishop Fabriciano Sigampa of the northern city of Resistencia said in mass, insisting that children should not confuse celebrating the birth of Christ “with a fat man dressed in red.”
“Surely, in the coming days there will be a deluge of advertisements after they inaugurate the house where a fat man dressed in red lives. And we should not confuse, we should not confuse Christmas with that.”
He said children “should know that, in reality, the gifts come from the efforts of their parents and with the help of Jesus.”
The Sun newspaper carries a derisory article today on the “Scrooge Church”:
The Christian denomination called Assemblies of God (AoG) branded many aspects of the festive season “sinful” – and their official December magazine, called Re, states: “Did you know that Santa is an anagram of Satan?”
In one column, miserly minister John Andrews rants that he has never misled his kids about Santa.
He said: “Some believe that parents who allow their kids to believe in Santa set a bad example.”
The core objection by Christians against perpetuating the myth of Santa with our children generally falls in two directions. Firstly, this involves lying and deception, secondly, how are our children supposed to trust us regarding Jesus if we’ve lied to them about Santa?
As a Christian, how do you feel about this issue? Is the myth of Santa harmless fun or something more sinister?
Tags: Christian Life
December 17th, 2010 at 1:28 pm
Check this out:
French parents have sought to ban a television commercial in which a father tells his adult son that Father Christmas does not exist, claiming it has traumatised their children.
December 17th, 2010 at 1:40 pm
Christmas is a time when we tell our children that if they are good a stranger may bring them a present.
Christmas could be a time when we tell our children that we love them unconditionally.
December 18th, 2010 at 7:58 am
.OH, Was not the Archbishop of A rgentina a kid himself once? Why spoil thier fun with this silly nonesense COME ON.GET REAL.