Secular Santa Claus is Coming to Town: What's so Christian about Santa Claus?
Wednesday November 19, 2008
Christians treat Christmas as a Christian holiday, and it certainly started out that way, but we can tell a lot about the real nature of holidays by how they are represented in popular culture. The most common, popular, and recognized symbol for Christmas today isn't an infant Jesus or even a manger scene, but Santa Claus. It's Santa who graces all the ads and decorations, not Jesus. Santa Claus is not, however, a religious figure or symbol.
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For you pilots out there. The most Austin can do is delete.Here goes
Santa and the FAA
Santa Claus, like all pilots, gets regular visits from the Federal Aviation Administration, and the FAA examiner arrived last week for the pre-Christmas flight check. In preparation, Santa had the elves wash the sled and bathe all the reindeer. Santa got his log book out and made sure all his paperwork was in order. He knew they would examine all his equipment and truly put Santa’s flying skills to the test. The examiner walked slowly around the sled. He checked the reindeer harnesses, the landing gear, and even Rudolph’s nose. He painstakingly reviewed Santa’s weight and balance calculations for sled’s enormous payload. Finally, they were ready for the check ride. Santa got in and fastened his seat belt and shoulder harness and checked the compass. Then the examiner hopped in carrying, to Santa’s surprise, a shotgun. “What’s that for?!?” Asked Santa incredulously. The examiner winked and said, “I’m not supposed to tell you this ahead of time,” as he leaned over to whisper in Santa’s ear, “but you’re gonna lose an engine on takeoff.”
One of the L.A. news stations has a Santa radar watch every year at Christmas. Clearly, its a humorous attempt which no one takes seriously although the conservative Christians would certainly do so.
In answer to the question, there is nothing Christian about Santa. (oddly, if you put the middle “n” and the end of the word, you have “Satan”.)
But its all irrelvant; for those who don’t know, Santa is not mentioned in the New Testament.
There is one big difference between Santa Claus and the Christian God. Santa only punishes the bad kids by denying them presents (or coal) while the Christian God sends everyone to some hot and unpleasant place.
[A little Scene: late Pre-teenage boy “playing with himself” whilst a Santa song is playing in the background]:
…”He sees you when you’re sleeping, he knows when you’re awake…he knows when you’ve been bad or good…
[Boy; with sudden realization of the song’s lyric…shouts]:
“WTF!…GET OUTA HERE…YOU FAT, BEARDED, SLEIGH RIDING, CHIMNEY ENTERING PERVERT!
SHEESH! Can’t a person have SOME privacy?…WOW…
You and that “Ever Present” God are BOTH the most totally extreme, weird-ass, voyeuristic jerk-offs!”
Ummm…and another illustrative Scene, perhaps?
OK…from the somewhat overlooked 1967 classic (and hilarious original) comedy with Peter Cook & Dudley Moore…
“Bedazzled”. A clever spoof of the old “Faustian” tale. In particular; in this YouTube clip…starting at about 5:00+, whilst “changing clothes in the Van”; a nice little pointed diatribe directed at the ultra-nosy deity concept…
“Bedazzled - Part 7
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ifb-LcJxYQ4&feature=related
Yeh, ur all a bunch of douches. I think maybe you should get over yourselves and just accept religion. I mean, honestly, what do you have to lose?
Uh… just accept which religion?
Guy - Yeh, start out with an insult. That’s the fastest way to influence people.
Get over ourselves how? I’m no egotist, I simply have no need for an invisible man to watch over me. I’m fully capable of personal responsibility.
And as Austin asked, which religion? Shinto? Buddhism? Hinduism? Sikhism? Zoroastrianism? Islam? Judaism? Rastafarianism?
As for accepting religion? I’m reminded of a sociology class I once took. On the first day, the professor asked a random girl in the class if she believed in prostitution. She said she did not. The prof lifted one eyebrow and said, “Well you should believe in it, because it exists. Remember, I didn’t ask you if you approved of prostitution.”
In much the same way, we atheists do accept religion. We accept it as existing in our world. That doesn’t mean we endorse it though.
Now, as for what I honestly have to lose by endorsing/practicing religion:
My self-autonomy.
My sense of curiosity.
My use of reason.
My need to seek the truth.
My being grounded in reality.
My self-respect.
I beg to differ. Wasn’t Santa Claus adapted/evolved from the xtian saint Nicholas, patron saint of prostitutes and pawnbrokers?
Well, Santa Claus has been believed to be a transmogrification of old St Nick (even though there is a St Nicholas Day in the RC Church, when we left shoes outside our door to get presents), but I think Santa descends more from the Germanic myths (I personally like the Odin/Wotan link, but I’m biased). I think this is another case of a myth developing and being incorporated into Christianity like so many others. But then again, I haven’t looked into it as deeply as I’d have liked yet.