Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!uwm.edu!rutgers!aramis.rutgers.edu!athos.rutgers.edu!christian From: adg@computer-lab.cambridge.ac.uk (Andy Gordon) Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian Subject: Re: Santa Claus Message-ID: Date: 18 Jan 90 04:54:56 GMT Sender: hedrick@athos.rutgers.edu Organization: U of Cambridge Comp Lab, UK Lines: 40 Approved: christian@aramis.rutgers.edu In article kw1r+@andrew.cmu.edu (Kevin Whitley) writes: >First, my wife (who is an adult convert to Christianity) and myself feel >that we should tell our children that Santa Claus is not real, is just a >story. The primary motivation is that we perceive a tendency towards >the effect: >age 5 - Santa Claus is real & God is real, age 10 - Santa Claus is not >real therefore God is not real. We wanted to avoid this. Kevin, this rings bells with me, as it were. I believe relationships should be based on honesty. You shouldn't lie to people. I'm not a parent and I don't have much experience with children but I believe one's relationship with your child ought to be based on honesty. So I completely agree that one shouldn't tell lies to your kids about Santa Claus. Not only is there a risk of the falsity of Santa Claus implying to a growing child the falsity of God, but there is a risk that the characteristics of Santa Claus are equated with those of God. The usual story is that if children are good throughout the year jolly old Father Christmas will come around on cue and deliver the goodies on Christmas Eve. This yarn juxtaposed with the celebration of the Son of God's incarnation suggests God works on this transactional basis: if you do good, God will shower on you material benefits. God isn't like that, and we shouldn't associate God in children's minds with such a figure. >Kevin Whitley >kw1r@andrew.cmu.edu Andy Gordon Computer Laboratory, Phone: (+44) 223 334650 University of Cambridge, JANET: adg@uk.ac.cam.cl New Museums Site, Pembroke Street, Internet: adg%cam.cl@nsfnet-relay.ac.uk CAMBRIDGE, CB2 3QG, UK. UUCP: ...!mcvax!ukc!cam-cl!adg Computer Laboratory, Phone: (+44) 223 334650 University of Cambridge, JANET: adg@uk.ac.cam.cl New Museums Site, Pembroke Street, Internet: adg%cam.cl@nsfnet-relay.ac.uk CAMBRIDGE, CB2 3QG, UK. UUCP: ...!mcvax!ukc!cam-cl!adg