Santa Claus, God & Critical Thinking: A Meditation In Honor Of Christmas

I’m a big fan of critical thinking.

I believe it has a central place in religion, as well as in all other aspects of our lives.

Looking hard, being just a little suspicious of truth claims, and whenever anything is asserted about the phenomenal universe, doubling down on the critical thinking thing has been a big help for me along the way.

Just one example is how it saves one from breatharians and others who deny the reality of the flesh.

But.

Or, maybe this is an “And…”

First, garbage in, garbage out.

Be clear on your premises.

Some are just not subject to direct scrutiny of the rational kind.

Is there a god is one.

Here’s why I think that. A reflection in honor of Christmas. There’s a difference between whether there is a god or whether there is a Santa Claus, even though some think they’re the same.

Me, I find little enough evidence of a deity that acts like a human being that I feel no need to assume that entity’s existence.

But, the critical heart cannot take one to an absolute rejection, no chance, no way. The universe is too large. And the definitions of the divine are too numerous to extend criticism of one view to all the possible variations of meaning for the word god in actual use.

I think the reasonable way approach to the idea of a conscious deity who intervenes in history is agnosticism. I happen to be an agnostic who leans atheist. But, I find it impossible to argue with a sister or brother agnostic who leans theist.

Too big a universe, too many moving parts.

And, closer to home there are additional issues at play worth noticing.

Santa Claus looks like a god. He appears in history and fixes things. At least he brings gifts to children. If they’re good.

For some of us.

But for all of us over time the evidence for Santa Claus becomes increasingly unlikely. At some point someone whispers into our ears there is no Santa. And whatever our level of denial the evidence continues to pile up. And, at some point for everyone, Santa stops coming…

As I said, for some this is also a description of God, an entity who fixes things and intervenes in history.

Despite what seems to me overwhelming evidence to the contrary. Or, at least, intervening with a capriciousness that makes me think such a deity is either actually evil or by any human standard crazy. One very dangerous entity…

And, from very long ago, there is another understanding of the divine that has never been part of the Santa Claus version.

Reason keeps us from falling into all sorts of pits. But to confuse this lovely, lovely method as the end in itself is to fall into one more pit.

The way of the heart is to open the heart.

And there we can find it.