# Why should Santa be regarded differently than God? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [January 9, 2019, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-should-santa-be-regarded-differently-than-god/827442 "2019-01-09T02:20:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![CarnalK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnalk/32/486_2.png) [@CarnalK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CarnalK)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2019, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-should-santa-be-regarded-differently-than-god/827442/81 "2019-01-16T03:10:53Z")
> [@truthseeker3](#): > > If you want to criticize the way I saw the world when I was fifteen, you should also point out how much of what little kids think is a direct reflection of their parents’ ideas, without any influence from TV, friends, books, movies, etc. 😉 We’re criticizing how you’re presenting your memories right now, presuming you are currently an adult. ---
**Author:** ![truthseeker3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e68b1a/32.png) [@truthseeker3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/truthseeker3)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2019, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-should-santa-be-regarded-differently-than-god/827442/82 "2019-01-16T19:40:30Z")
> [@truthseeker3](#): > > But I do have a very clear memory of being told not to tell one of my cousins that Santa wasn’t real and feeling like I was being ordered to lie. I think I should come back to this because there’s more to that story. And wait til I get to my point before you start tearing me apart. THEN: My cousin and I were both in elementary school at the time, and he’s three years younger than me, so this would have been first/second and fourth/fifth grade. He wasn’t doing well in school; nowadays, he would probably be diagnosed autistic, but back then everybody just thought he was weird. I also observed that kids in my class would pick on other kids who still believed in Santa, and I worried that it was exacerbating a problem he already had. NOW: I’m not sure that made him (more) conspicuous; lots of second-graders believe in Santa. And even if letting him in on the secret could have spared him six weeks of teasing, that still leaves thirty weeks. Small potatoes at best. THEN (but a little later): I think I actually asked some parents why they didn’t tell kids the truth about Santa, and they said the kids would get upset. I don’t think they drew a distinction between answering questions at the appropriate time and an unprovoked attack on their fantasy, but it’s possible I just didn’t understand. Either way, I was left wondering: if kids will get upset when you tell them about Santa, what happens when they ask questions? Won’t you eventually have to tell them? And isn’t it cruel to set them up for a disappointment like that? NOW: I can see how kids just naturally outgrow Santa, with no ill effects. But I’m still not a fan. THE POINT: Early negative experiences and incomplete understanding can be difficult to overcome. And I’m not feeding the reindeer. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2019, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-should-santa-be-regarded-differently-than-god/827442/83 "2019-01-16T19:58:36Z")
> [@kanicbird](#): > > To me Santa exists, it is a Spirit, sometimes called the Christmas Spirit - though it is basically interfaith, were adults are compelled by it to buy gifts for children. So Santa is real. > > I have never never heard of a Santa that punishes anyone. One may get a lump of coal, but that is not a punishment, just a message. This suggests that you’ve only been exposed to sanitized iterations of the panoply of Santa traditions the world has to offer. If I’m not mistaken, in some cases, naughty children have been threatened with finding their stockings filled with both coal AND whuppin’-ready birch switches. In some traditions, he has sidekicks (who probably prefer the term “partners”) to handle his “light work,”\* to carry the naughty children off to either Hell or “Moorish Spain” (to live among the Muslims, probably not in sybaritic conditions). \*(“light” in the sense of “not arduous”) ---
**Author:** ![Sitnam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Sitnam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sitnam)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2019, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-should-santa-be-regarded-differently-than-god/827442/84 "2019-01-16T21:47:46Z")
Can we all agree firing the teacher was over kill? I have a 5 and 8 year old. The teachers that get my children excited to learn are an incredible asset to my children’s life and by extension my own. It’s just a fact teachers spend more hours a day talking to your children than parents, and no parent is perfect. Besides, how easy would it be to let the bandwagon rage pass and just tell the kid, “well, perhaps your teacher didn’t behave when they were young and didn’t get any presents from Santa”. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2019, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-should-santa-be-regarded-differently-than-god/827442/85 "2019-01-16T22:44:54Z")
> [@Sitnam](#): > > Can we all agree firing the teacher was over kill? [Here’s a link to the original thread](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=866481) (assuming it’s the one this thread’s OP had in mind). Unfortunately, it seems the link in that thread to the original news article no longer works. But the teacher in question was a substitute teacher; and I don’t think we ever found out that the teacher was fired, only that they were “reprimanded.” ---
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2019, 12:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-should-santa-be-regarded-differently-than-god/827442/86 "2019-01-17T12:12:13Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > This suggests that you’ve only been exposed to sanitized iterations of the panoply of Santa traditions the world has to offer. If I’m not mistaken, in some cases, naughty children have been threatened with finding their stockings filled with both coal AND whuppin’-ready birch switches. I mentioned in another thread that one of my brothers once got not birches, but a flogger (the evil sidekick of Santa being called here the equivalent of “Flogging father” while Santa is “Christmas father”. When I think of it, I never heard a reference to him in a very very long time, so I suppose that parents have since wisely eliminated “flogging father” from Christmas traditions). ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2019, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-should-santa-be-regarded-differently-than-god/827442/87 "2019-01-17T14:29:32Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > [Here’s a link to the original thread](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=866481) (assuming it’s the one this thread’s OP had in mind). Unfortunately, it seems the link in that thread to the original news article no longer works. But the teacher in question was a substitute teacher; and I don’t think we ever found out that the teacher was fired, only that they were “reprimanded.” Teacher was/is out of the job because of it. > **[Substitute teacher out of the job after telling first-grade students Santa...](https://myfox8.com/news/substitute-teacher-out-of-the-job-after-telling-first-grade-students-santa-isnt-real/)** > > MONTVILLE, N.J. – A substitute teacher, who told first-grade students Santa Claus isn’t real, is out of the job after public outrage, USA TODAY reports. The New Jersey school district apologi… > **[First grade substitute teacher fired after telling students Santa isn't real](https://cbs6albany.com/news/nation-world/first-grade-substitute-teacher-fired-after-telling-students-santa-isnt-real)** > > A New Jersey substitute teacher is out of work after allegedly telling first-graders Santa Claus isn't real. FOX News obtained a statement from Montivlle Township Public Schools Superintendent Rene Rovtar, who confirmed the substitute is no longer... > **[Teacher who told kids Santa isn't real has been let go, district...](https://www.foxnews.com/us/after-saying-santa-is-not-real-substitute-teacher-no-longer-working-for-new-jersey-school-district-superintendent-says)** > > A substitute teacher who recently told first-graders that Santa Claus is not real is no longer working for a New Jersey school district, the superintendent said Tuesday.  ---
**Author:** ![kanicbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2019, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-should-santa-be-regarded-differently-than-god/827442/88 "2019-01-17T14:52:19Z")
One reason is you end up demonizing yourself, and ultimately losing in the minds and hearts of children who will be learning the lesson of good and evil with you as a example of a evil one telling lies to children in a attempt to break their hearts. As the children learn the truth about Santa you might still be seen as a messenger of evil. ---
**Author:** ![Razncain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9d8465/32.png) [@Razncain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Razncain)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2019, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-should-santa-be-regarded-differently-than-god/827442/89 "2019-01-17T16:46:19Z")
^^^ There’s a old picture I seen years ago on the internet of Santa Claus with a kid on his lap, and below it a slogan that says something along the lines, “Kids remember when your parents told you Santa Claus was real? Remember that when they start telling you about Jesus.” ---
**Author:** ![GTPhD1996](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/97f17d/32.png) [@GTPhD1996](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GTPhD1996)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2019, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-should-santa-be-regarded-differently-than-god/827442/90 "2019-01-24T00:57:44Z")
It isn’t as harmless as some of you think about Santa. My daughter told me that when she found out that Santa wasn’t real that she couldn’t trust us to tell her the truth. Let’s be honest that Santa is a means of controlling kids so they don’t drive parents too crazy before Christmas. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2019, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-should-santa-be-regarded-differently-than-god/827442/91 "2019-01-31T21:02:16Z")
> [@EscAlaMike](#): > > Similarly, God must by definition be the ultimate source and standard of justice and righteousness. If a being failed to reward good and punish evil, then it would not be just and therefore not God. [nitpick] Don’t you mean “and therefore not _a_ god”? I mean, you did say “a being”. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2019, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-should-santa-be-regarded-differently-than-god/827442/92 "2019-01-31T21:45:25Z")
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > Don’t you mean “and therefore not _a_ god”? I mean, you did say “a being”. No, I’m pretty sure he didn’t. There can’t be more than one “ultimate source and standard.” I don’t understand your objection. Consider the parallel construction: “If a sailor man failed to grow strong from eating spinach, then it wouldn’t be Popeye.” You wouldn’t say, “Don’t you mean ‘_a_ popeye’?” ---
**Author:** ![EscAlaMike](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/escalamike/32/4177_2.png) [@EscAlaMike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EscAlaMike)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2019, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-should-santa-be-regarded-differently-than-god/827442/93 "2019-01-31T21:53:57Z")
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > [nitpick] Don’t you mean “and therefore not _a_ god”? I mean, you did say “a being”. > [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > No, I’m pretty sure he didn’t. There can’t be more than one “ultimate source and standard.” **Thudlow** is correct. By “God”, I am referring to the ultimate being. Any lesser being could be “a god”, but would not be “God” of whom I am referring. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2019, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-should-santa-be-regarded-differently-than-god/827442/94 "2019-01-31T22:12:19Z")
> [@EscAlaMike](#): > > **Thudlow** is correct. By “God”, I am referring to the ultimate being. Any lesser being could be “a god”, but would not be “God” of whom I am referring. Which religious sect’s “ultimate being” are you referring to? ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2019, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-should-santa-be-regarded-differently-than-god/827442/95 "2019-01-31T22:16:24Z")
^ That’s my question, too. ---
**Author:** ![EscAlaMike](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/escalamike/32/4177_2.png) [@EscAlaMike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EscAlaMike)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2019, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-should-santa-be-regarded-differently-than-god/827442/96 "2019-01-31T22:16:36Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > Which religious sect’s “ultimate being” are you referring to? I’m referring to the greatest being that humans can possibly conceive of. It’s a philosophical principle, not necessarily a religious one, though it could certainly be both. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2019, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-should-santa-be-regarded-differently-than-god/827442/97 "2019-01-31T22:32:09Z")
> [@EscAlaMike](#): > > I’m referring to the greatest being that humans can possibly conceive of. > > It’s a philosophical principle, not necessarily a religious one, though it could certainly be both. This may be news to you, but for thousands of years an untold number of different humans have conceived of an untold number of different “ultimate beings”, which is why I asked you which one you were referring to ---
**Author:** ![EscAlaMike](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/escalamike/32/4177_2.png) [@EscAlaMike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EscAlaMike)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2019, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-should-santa-be-regarded-differently-than-god/827442/98 "2019-01-31T22:57:07Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > This may be news to you, but for thousands of years an untold number of different humans have conceived of an untold number of different “ultimate beings”, which is why I asked you which one you were referring to The ancient Europeans called it “Sky Father” The ancient Hebrews called it “YHWH” Plato called it “Form of the Good” Aristotle had his “perfect being” Later Greeks had “The Unknown God” Hindus call it “Lord Maha Vishnu” Christians and Muslims call it “God/Allah” In this context, any and all. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2019, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-should-santa-be-regarded-differently-than-god/827442/99 "2019-01-31T23:06:41Z")
> [@EscAlaMike](#): > > You don’t believe in witches? [Here’s](https://www.cnn.com/style/article/witches-in-america-frances-f-denny-refinery-29/index.html) photographic evidence that they do in fact exist. I have never heard of a witch walking on water, but maybe you can provide a documented instance of it. [Here you go.](http://townsquare.media/site/43/files/2014/01/Witch-186212418-300x179.jpg?w=980&q=75) ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2019, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-should-santa-be-regarded-differently-than-god/827442/100 "2019-01-31T23:13:53Z")
> [@EscAlaMike](#): > > The ancient Europeans called it “Sky Father” > The ancient Hebrews called it “YHWH” > Plato called it “Form of the Good” > Aristotle had his “perfect being” > Later Greeks had “The Unknown God” > Hindus call it “Lord Maha Vishnu” > Christians and Muslims call it “God/Allah” > > In this context, any and all. I wasn’t aware that all those people and cultures had agreed that they were all worshiping the same god; do you have a cite? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-should-santa-be-regarded-differently-than-god/827442.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-should-santa-be-regarded-differently-than-god/827442.md?page=6)