{"id":4834,"date":"2013-01-02T12:32:23","date_gmt":"2013-01-02T17:32:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/frenchrevolution\/?p=4834"},"modified":"2013-01-02T12:33:14","modified_gmt":"2013-01-02T17:33:14","slug":"let-santa-smoke-why-sanitizing-your-kids-books-is-not-the-answer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/frenchrevolution\/2013\/01\/02\/let-santa-smoke-why-sanitizing-your-kids-books-is-not-the-answer\/","title":{"rendered":"Let Santa Smoke: Why Sanitizing Your Kids’ Books is Not the Answer"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Katrina Trinko writes in USA Today<\/a>:<\/p>\n

This year, Santa\u2019s on the naughty list.<\/p>\n

A new version of the \u2018Twas the Night Before Christmas<\/em> \u2014 the holiday poem that\u2019s long been a cultural staple \u2014 features a Santa Claus whose smoking habits are more Michael Bloomberg than Mad Men<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Canadian author Pamela McColl has censored the poem, removing two verses about Santa: \u201cThe stump of a pipe he held tight in his teeth\/and the smoke it encircled his head like a wreath.\u201d The book\u2019s cover is unapologetic, reading \u201cEdited by Santa Claus for the benefit of children of the 21st century.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

However, sanitizing Santa is not the answer.<\/p>\n

1.\u00a0 Use \u201cTwas the Night Before Christmas\u201d as a conversation catalyst.\u00a0<\/strong> Santa\u2019s pipe might be the perfect time to talk to your kids about smoking.\u00a0 I, for one, grew up in the farmland of Kentucky, where I believed \u201cTobacco\u201d was a book in the Bible (confusing it with Habakkuk).\u00a0 Conversations about moderately complicated issues not inherently bad, but are great moments to transfer values to children.<\/p>\n

2.\u00a0 Kids need to understand moral complexity.<\/strong>\u00a0 Katrina writes:<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2026the original \u2018Twas the Night Before Christmas<\/em> \u2014 penned almost 200 years ago \u2014 gives kids an important historical insight: namely, that every generation has weaknesses they don\u2019t notice, but successive generations do. Recognizing that provides kids with a vital humility to incorporate in their understanding of their own generation\u2019s mores.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This is a lesson children at my 205 year old church \u2014 Zion Presbyterian in Columbia, Tennessee <\/a>\u2014 have to learn at an early age, as they walk past the slave cemetery to walk into the main sanctuary.\u00a0 It\u2019s spiritually beneficial to come face to face with spiritual and cultural mistakes and blindspots, and to realize that even \u201cgood people\u201d sometimes have terrible judgement.<\/p>\n

3. Sanitizing Santa couldn\u2019t stop at the pipe.<\/strong> With an obesity epidemic in America, why not go ahead and give St. Nick liposuction? Or at least take away those cookies left on every plate in the world?<\/p>\n

4.\u00a0 Sanitizing art can\u2019t stop at Twas the Night Before Christmas.<\/strong>\u00a0 Many beloved classics for children would need to be edited if we go down this path. According to QDREF<\/a>, Pinocchio, <\/em>Peter Pan, <\/em>Alice, <\/em><\/em>Roger (101 Dalmatians), <\/em>Ariel, and the Genie (Aladdin<\/em>) have all puffed on screen.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Let\u2019s face it.\u00a0 We can\u2019t scrub society of all vestiges of \u201cevil,\u201d nor would it make us better people if we could.\u00a0 Patheos movie critic Rebecca Cusey<\/a> discussed this recently:<\/p>\n

Brothers and Sisters, the danger is within, not without.<\/p>\n

Christian theology states that we are sinful creatures, or, to put it in Oprah terms, we\u2019re each weighed down with his or her weakness, each with our own lifelong struggles.<\/p>\n

Christians believe this intellectually, but it all goes out the window when dealing with media. Instead we tend to picture ourselves, and our children, as blank slates, pure white pieces of paper just waiting to be soiled by what Hollywood, Nashville, or YouTube throws at us\u2026<\/p>\n

In Matthew 15:10, Jesus states, \u201cIt is not what enters into the mouth\u00a0that defiles the man, but what proceeds out of the mouth, this defiles the man.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Other Scriptures also indicate the problem emanates from our own hearts<\/a> and not from the pages of books of the screens of movies.\u00a0 Do we need to protect our kids from filth?\u00a0 Sure.\u00a0 But we also need to approach art \u2014 even kids\u2019 literature and movies \u2014 with a solid Biblical worldview.\u00a0 Only this will allow parents to raise children confidently and boldly in a culture that often seems at odds with the lessons we\u2019re trying to teach them.<\/p>\n

It also means we don\u2019t have to nag others \u2014 like Santa \u2014 to adapt to our code of conduct.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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