Huckleberries Online

Sorry Virginia…

Posted by Cindy

Dec. 24, 2009 2:27 p.m. • 8 comments

Editor’s note: The following op-ed article is for grown-ups only. Children are warned that if they read it, they will not receive any gifts from Santa Claus this year!

Parents should stop teaching their kids to believe in Santa Claus. Reading stories about Santa is fine, and encouraging generosity and imagination is great. But tricking children into believing that an omniscient fat man, with a red suit and rosy cheeks, will slide down the chimney bestowing presents on Dec. 24 is just flat-out immoral.

First of all, it’s lying. It’s one thing to lie to save someone’s life, but stop kidding yourself. “It’s fun to watch the kids get excited” is hardly a noble cause. Nor is it harmless. I’ve amassed recollections of “finding out the truth about Santa,” and many were stories of genuine embarrassment and resentment. Read more.

I’d hate to be this guy’s kids. Just saying.

Eight comments on this post so far. Add yours!

hmoffsuite on December 24 at 2:43 p.m.
Sounds like another liberal to me. First the Priest that ok’d shoplifting from businesses and now this.
JamesBond on December 24 at 2:50 p.m.
I think somebody didn’t get the presents they wanted when they were little. :-)
hmoffsuite on December 24 at 2:53 p.m.
Right on, JamesBond. And, it’s just not fair.
jazzyvandal on December 24 at 3:19 p.m.
What a grinch…
empyrius on December 24 at 3:27 p.m.
“a frightening percentage of Americans believe surprisingly ridiculous things - that the sun revolves around the earth, for example (18 percent), or in communication with the dead (21 percent), witches (21 percent), astrology (25 percent), clairvoyance (26 percent), telepathy (31 percent), ghosts (32 percent) and ESP (41 percent)” http://articles.baltimoresun.com/2009-12-13/news/0912130034_1_santa-claus-parents-children

I notice that list does not include “God”.

Strange . . .
spokelooneh on December 24 at 9:08 p.m.
The Professor has a degree from Southern Nazarene University in Religion and Philosophy, and is a Professor of Religious Studies, and has written extensively on various pop culture issues, religion, and philosophy. He is a Christian Philosophy scholar and leans libertarian, likes South Park and has written about the philosophy of that show, and others as well.

How anyone could think he was a liberal in the pejorative sense, or didn’t get enough toys as a kid is beyond reason.

His point which you have all have seemingly failed to understand is that the true meaning of Christmas has nothing to do some made up guy (Santa) giving children gifts “if they’ve been good”. It’s about God’s gift to the world and giving of ourselves in order to relieve the suffering and burdens of others or provide them some joy, and focus on what Jesus said was the two most important things, love your god and love your neighbors.

“One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him “Of all the commandments, which is the most important?”

“The most important one,” Jesus answered, “is this: Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. The second is this: Love your neighbor as yourself. There is no commandment greater than these.”

Being frazzled to death by shopping for “gifts from Santa”, running up the credit cards to the hilt, not remembering and panicking over where you hid the gifts for the kids may be interesting, but not really the point here. BTW, there is no way in hell I would have tried to find any unwrapped gifts my parents were hiding whether it was back when I believed in Santa or later. Why ruin the surprise?

“And to love him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love his neighbor as himself, is more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.”

In other words, all the rest of the trappings and rituals of religion are pretty much meaningless.

Merry Christmas Everyone.
Escapee on December 24 at 9:58 p.m.
Maybe the guy’s a Jehovahs Witness…
Arch_Druid on December 25 at 9:36 a.m.
Sorry to disappoint but “Santa Claus” has gone through a great many interpretations and incarnations since THE REAL MCCOY a minor saint was known for GIVING GIFTS of dowries to poor women so that they could marry well and etc. Oh yeah, Santa Claus did exist from the corruption of ST NICHOLAS in the 3rd century AD and his very act of CHRISTIAN GENEROSITY is what made SANTA CLAUS a part of the Christmas tradition.

Santa bearing gifts for kids STILL represents CHRISTIAN GENEROSITY. Unfortunately, we no longer have people around ready to recognize such generosity for what it is. As the 3 kings did for the Christ child, so Santa Claus does for kids today. And that becomes a problem for this dude who got front paged. Maybe he needs to do a religious study on his bible to discover the solid link between the one and the other. And here I am a non-Christian having to defend something that is definitely AS Christian as you will ever see in this holiday season. And this guy on the other hand demonstrates what sort of Scrooge he is and makes a mockery of the holiday and his faith. By the way, give gifts and YOU are now Santa Claus.

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D.F. Oliveria is a columnist and blogger for The Spokesman-Review. Huckleberries Online was judged the best 2008 Idaho newspaper blog by the Idaho Press Club. And the best 2007 news blog in the Pacific Northwest by the Society for Professional Journalist. Print Huckleberries is a past winner of the Herb Caen Memorial Column contest by the National Association of Newspaper Columnists. The Readership Institute of Northwestern University cited this blog as a good example of online community journalism.