40 thoughts on “Santa – Real or Imaginary?”

        • Good for you. Didn’t know it was the most obese state too. Fascinating. Maybe conservative Christianity causes an unnatural build up of internal methane which is bloating people there. Makes the most sense to me, as conservative Christianity and methane both reek of the same foul stench.

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          • LOL — true that. Thankfully, there’s lots of gulf breezes to blow any fundy fumes to the north. Neil Carter (Godless in Dixie) gets way more stench. Anything north of I-10 tends tends be a lot more conservative. I’ll be living in a more transient area. They (those north of I-10) call people living south of I-10 (the coast), damn Yankees. 😀

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      • “Of course you do. HE’S the one who’s real!”

        Oh dear. I guess I am going to need to have a talk with my daughter and tell her I sorely misled her. Seriously, though, I find it interesting that it’s OK for children to ask questions about whether Santa is real or not, but not about God. As a child “and” adult, I was reprimand for questioning the existence of God.

        Excerpts from WebMD’s article “When Santa Stops Being Real — When your child starts guessing the truth about St. Nick”

        “So what happens when a child’s logic — or perhaps a friend — reveals a few inconsistencies in the jolly old man’s story? How do you know when it’s time to let your children in on the big secret?

        There’s really no one right time to tell kids that there’s no Santa Claus,” says Glen Elliott, Ph.D. Elliott is an associate professor and the Director of the Department of Child and Adolescent Psychology at the University of California, San Francisco. “The important thing is to take your cues from the child, and not try to prolong the fantasy for your own enjoyment when they may be ready to give it up.

        Follow Your Child’s Lead

        Like Elliott, many experts agree that parents should wait for their children to give them signs that they’re ready to give up believing in St. Nick. “When children start putting together in their minds that Santa Claus may not be real, they’ll ask questions — and that’s an opening for parents to get them talking about what’s logical or not to them,” says Helen Egger, Ph.D., a Child Psychologist at the Department of Child and Adolescent Psychology at Duke University.

        http://www.webmd.com/parenting/features/when-santa-stops-being-real

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          • Jeff, your comment and the comment at the end of the article Nan posted reminded me of a quote Arch shared in one of Violetwisp’s recent posts:

            “Insanity is believing your hallucinations are real. Religion is believing that other peoples’ hallucinations are real.” — Dan Barker –

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    • Right. Simply replace the word Santa with Jesus, and it is the same. Only it is non-developmentally disabled adults who cling to their belief in Jesus as kids cling to theirs for Santa. How, oh how, can more people not see this parallel? And even more of a question is, how oh how, can religious apologists continue not to see it? There is no difference other than the name of the non-existent guy in question. No difference at all.

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      • I can remember a time when I totally believed in Jesus/God, but I was raised in it and knew no one who wasn’t a believer. But Jesus/God is marketed much like Santa Claus is and affects the brain (neuromarketing) in a similar way. In the WebMD article it states:

        “Even if you haven’t actively cultivated your children’s acceptance of the Santa Claus myth, chances are good — thanks to the magic of Christmas TV specials and slick holiday advertising — that they believe in the man who knows if they’ve been naughty or nice.”

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  8. Speaking of marketing — Did you ever see the movie Elf? If so, did you notice how the father was pretty much made out to be the bad guy for not believing in Santa Claus? But his character was also in question. It had a subtle (belief in god) message. Same with Polar Express.

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  9. I was relatively late in realizing the truth about Santa Claus. I can’t help but see a parallel there now, in regards to what I believed, and what I questioned (or didn’t)…

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    • “I was relatively late in realizing the truth about Santa Claus.”

      I was around nine when I started to suspect, but I didn’t see the parallel for along time. My first thought when I realized Santa wasn’t real was “I was lied to”. Then after I thought about it for a while, I realized that my parents were Santa and were the ones actually making the sacrifices to make Christmas special for me and my siblings. I think about this a lot now when Jesus/God is given the credit for the altruistic — prosocial behavior in people.

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  10. “Nothin’ says “Santa is real” for me more than listening to James Caan sing, “Santa Claus is coming to town.” Nothing.”

    Hahahah — when I see James Caan, I see Sonny Corleone in the movie The Godfather, so yeah, I tend to agree with you. :mrgreen:

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  14. Speaking of Santa, Author Gretta Vosper wrote a great analogy to James Fowler’s Stages of Faith. It would be nice if everyone was in Stage Six 🙂

    If you still believe Santa is going to drop down your chimney and bring you presents, you’re in Stage Three. ( Any conflicts with one’s beliefs are ignored at this stage due to the fear of threat from inconsistencies.)

    If you have found out there is no Santa and you’re still mad at your parents for lying to you, you’re in Stage Four. (As one is able to reflect on one’s own beliefs, there is an openness to a new complexity of faith, but this also increases the awareness of conflicts in one’s belief.)

    If you have started playing Santa for your children, you’re in Stage Five. (The individual resolves conflicts from previous stages by a complex understanding of a multidimensional, interdependent “truth” that cannot be explained by any particular statement.)

    If you’ve set up a national charity through which parents are able to access gifts and necessities for their children, called it Santa’s Workshop, and donated your income to it, you’re in Stage Six. (The individual would treat any person with compassion as he or she views people as from a universal community, and should be treated with universal principles of love and justice.)

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