Santa Claus: Should Parents
Perpetuate the Santa Claus Myth?
By Austin Cline
Problems with the Santa Claus Myth:
Although Santa Claus was originally based upon the Christian figure of Saint
Nicholas, a patron saint of children, today Santa Claus is wholly secular. Some
Christians object to him because he is secular rather than Christian; some
non-Christians object to him because of his Christian roots. He is a powerful
cultural symbol which is impossible to ignore, but this doesn’t mean that he
should simply be accepted without question. There are good reasons to dispense
with the tradition.
Parents Have to Lie About Santa Claus:
Perhaps the most serious objection to perpetuating belief in Santa Claus among
children is also the simplest: in order to do so, parents have to lie to their
children. You can’t encourage the belief without dishonesty, and it’s not a
“little white lie” that is for their own good or that might protect them from
harm. Parents should not persistently lie to children without overwhelmingly
good reasons, so this puts supporters of the Santa Claus myth on the defensive.
Parents’ Lies About Santa Claus Have to Grow:
In order to get kids to believe in Santa Claus, it’s not enough to commit a
couple of simple lies and move on. As with any lie, it’s necessary to construct
more and more elaborate lies and defenses as time passes. Skeptical questions
about Santa must be met with detailed lies about Santa’s powers. “Evidence” of
Santa Claus must be created once mere stories of Santa prove insufficient. It’s
unethical for parents to perpetuate elaborate deceptions on children unless it’s
for a greater good.
Santa Claus Lies Discourage Healthy Skepticism:
Most children eventually become skeptical about Santa Claus and ask questions
about him, for example how he could possibly travel around the whole world in
such a short period of time. Instead of encouraging this skepticism and helping
children come to a reasonable conclusion about whether Santa Claus is even
possible, much less real, most parents discourage skepticism by telling tales
about Santa’s supernatural powers.
The Reward & Punishment System of Santa Claus is Unjust:
There are a number of aspects to the whole Santa Claus “system” which children
shouldn’t learn to internalize. It implies that the whole person can be judged
as naughty or nice based upon a few acts. It requires belief that someone is
constantly watching you, no matter what you are doing. It is based upon the
premise that one should do good for the sake of reward and avoid doing wrong out
of fear of punishment. It allows parents to try to control children via a
powerful stranger.
The Santa Claus Myth Promotes Materialism:
The entire Santa Claus myth is based on the idea of children getting gifts.
There’s nothing wrong with getting gifts, but Santa Claus makes it the focus on
the entire holiday. Children are encouraged to conform their behavior to
parental expectation in order to receive ever more presents rather than simply
lumps of coal. In order to make Christmas lists, kids pay close attention to
what advertisers tell them they should want, effectively encouraging unbridled
consumerism.
Santa Claus is Too Similar to Jesus and God:
The parallels between Santa Claus and Jesus or God are numerous. Santa Claus is
a nearly all-powerful, supernatural person who dispenses rewards and punishment
to people all over the world based upon whether they adhere to a pre-defined
code of conduct. His existence is implausible or impossible, but faith is
expected if one is to receive the rewards. Believers should regard this as
blasphemous; non-believers shouldn’t want their kids prepared in this way to
adopt Christianity or theism.
The Santa Claus “Tradition” is Relatively Recent:
Some might think that because Santa Claus is such an old tradition, this alone
is sufficient reason to continue it. They were taught to believe in Santa as
children, so why not pass this along to their own? The role of Santa Claus in
Christmas celebration is actually quite recent — the mid to late 19th century.
The importance of Santa Claus is a creation of cultural elites and perpetuated
by business interests and simple cultural momentum. It has little to no inherent
value.
Santa Claus is More About Parents than Children:
Parental investment in Santa Claus is far larger than anything kids do,
suggesting that parents’ defense of the Santa Claus myth is more about what they
want than about what kids want. Their own memories about enjoying Santa may be
heavily influenced by cultural assumptions about what they should have
experienced. Is it not possible that kids would find at least as much pleasure
in knowing that parents are responsible for Christmas, not a supernatural
stranger?
The Future of Santa Claus:
Santa Claus symbolizes Christmas and perhaps the entire winter holiday season
like nothing else. An argument can be made for the importance of the Christmas
tree as a symbol for Christmas (notice that there are no Christian images which
come close), but Santa Claus personifies Christmas in a way that trees cannot.
Santa Claus is, furthermore, a very secular character by now which allows him to
cross cultural and religious lines, placing him in an important position for the
entire season rather than for Christmas alone.
Because of this, it’s plausible that giving up on Santa Claus will mean
abandoning much of the Christmas holidays altogether — and perhaps that’s not
such a bad thing. There’s a lot to be said for Christians dismissing the
consumerist, commercialized Christmas of America and focusing instead on the
Nativity of Jesus. Ignoring Santa Claus would symbolize this choice. There’s a
lot to be said for adherents of other religions refusing to allow Santa Claus to
become part of their own traditions, representing an intrusion of Western
culture into their own.
Finally, there’s also a lot to be said for nonbelievers of various sorts — humanists, atheists, skeptics, and freethinkers — refusing to be co-opted into a religious observance. Whether Santa Claus in particular or Christmas in general is treated as defined by Christian or pagan religious traditions, neither are religions which nonbelievers are part of. Christmas and Santa Claus have strong secular elements, but those are primarily commercial — and who is going to invest themselves in a holiday all about commerce and who can spend the most money on credit?
The future of Santa Claus will depend on whether people will care enough to do anything — if not, things will continue on the same course they have been on. If people care not to be taken over, borg-like, by America’s Christmas, resistance may reduce Santa’s status as a cultural icon.
©2008 About.com, a part of The New York Times Company.
All rights reserved.
MY COMMENTS:
Santa justifies the idea of a magical old man spying on children
in the toilet and going into their bedroom. The only good
thing about it is that the child may realise the truth for herself
or himself and notice how God belief is conditioned the same way.
In fact, New Age adults who think there are many invisible worlds
around us hold that some of them may have a real Santa!
Children are conditioned to feel safe around individuals dressed as
Santa and most sexual abuse that resulted has not been explored.
The Santa thing shows the total hypocrisy of the Church.
