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30
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Did Santa Claus Kill God?
December 19, 2006
Religion is taking a beating in the United States. Fewer
people believe in God than ever before. Fabricated reports
in the media about a resurgence in church attendance and
religious fervor go unsupported by any credible statistics.
Many psychologists attribute this widespread retreat from
religion to a breakdown of the traditional American family.
They are wrong. The real truth is that Santa Claus probably
killed God.
How did this happen? Ask any Christian parent if their
children do or ever did believed in Santa. The answer in
almost every case is “yes.” There are numerous psychological
theories to explain why parents propagate the Santa Claus
myth, but “why” is not the issue here. The issue is the
psychological effect of a Santa Claus fantasy on children;
particularly at the point in their lives when they discover
their parents lied about his existence.
Think back to your childhood (if you can still remember).
Who appears first in your cognitive memory; Santa Claus or
God? Santa Claus, of course. Your parents and relatives
talked about Santa, television showed stories about Santa,
you actually saw Santa in stores; and Santa left presents
for you under the Christmas tree.
Even your kindergarten teacher told you to write letters to
Santa. Pretty convincing evidence for a child, wouldn’t you
say? What was the punishment for being bad? Everyone (even
non-Christians) knows that; Santa wouldn’t bring any
presents at Christmas. You were more
accountable to Santa for your behavior than to your own
parents.
The Santa myth was further reinforced by the next fantasy,
the Easter Bunny. This eccentric hopper laid colorful,
hard-boiled eggs on the lawn; hid chocolate and candy (in
obvious places) for you to find and made guest appearances
on television and in parades, just like Santa. Do you see
the emerging pattern of visual and material confirmations of
these adult-conceived fantasies. What child could logically
dispute the existence of Santa and the bunny?
The Tooth Fairy flew in on the heels of the Easter Bunny to
trade pocket change for your worn out baby teeth. The Tooth
Fairy fantasy was easy enough to accept because you already
believed in fairies. Remember Tinkerbell from Peter Pan, or
the Fairy Godmother in Cinderella?
Most young children today (ages 3-8) seem to think the
important people in their lives are Santa Claus, the Easter
Bunny, the Tooth Fairy and their grandparents. Most parents
at this point haven’t even introduced the concept of God to
their children. Do the children care anything about God? Not
Likely. Santa Claus, the Tooth Fairy, the Easter Bunny and
the grandparents give them lots of neat things; even
sometimes when they’re naughty. God doesn’t give them
anything.
About the time a child’s baby teeth have all fallen out, the
fantasy deceptions begin to unravel. The first glimmer of
truth normally occurs when the alleged monster under the bed
doesn’t gobble the child up when he or she sneaks out of bed
against daddy’s orders. If daddy lied about the monster, what else did
daddy lie about?
More clarity flows in when a child becomes sufficiently
educated or intelligent to calculate the impossibility of a
stork flying with a 7-9 pound payload. The game is up.
Kids start talking to each other in school about these
fantasies and arrive at a common conclusion that all adults,
including their parents, are big liars. Adults have lied
about everything. Even the teachers have lied. Any child
unable or unwilling to accept this new truth is unmercifully
teased and branded a “baby” by his or her peers.
This period of “awakening” normally occurs around the same
time parents begin to suggest the concept of God. It is
however, too late. The children already know that ALL adults
lie and can’t be trusted. Some children pretend to play
along with the religion fantasy because they fear parental
retribution, but even the play-actors ultimately reject any
notion of God or religion because there is no material
reward for believing. Parents lied about Santa Claus;
they’re obviously lying about God.
Children quickly perceive that adults are now attempting to
substitute God for Santa Claus with the punishment for
misbehavior changing from “no presents” to “going to hell.”
The “going to hell” gambit is totally ineffective because
parents can not prove the existence of hell (or heaven for
that matter). Kids are all about “now” and have no
inclination or motivation to think about an afterlife.
When threatened with going to hell, children secretly
conclude that if hell really exists (although unlikely),
that is where their parents will go for lying to them about
Santa Claus and all the other fantasy creatures.
Child/parental trust and mutual respect is totally
destroyed. There is no possible way to recover from this
disaster because parents can not justify all the lies they
have told. The excuse that “everyone does it” won’t wash
because lying is bad and “two wrongs don’t make a right.”
Remember; you tried to teach your children that. Now it has
backfired on you. The only things that even keep your
children at home after they’ve been betrayed is your ability
and willingness to provide material benefits like food,
clothing, shelter, an allowance, a car and a college
education.
When does God die? Every time mommy or daddy tells Donnie
and Marie that Santa will bring them presents for Christmas
if they behave. Mommy and daddy know they are lying and will
be found out sooner or later. But they lie anyway, not
recognizing the inescapable fact that kids learn from their
parents’ behavior and example. That is why, after the kids
grow up and have children of their own, they repeat their
own parents’ deplorable “lying about Santa” behavior and yet
another generation is psychologically manipulated into
rejecting God.
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