![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.evolvefish.com\/fish\/media\/MA-WhatHappenedToSanta.jpg\")
<\/a>Earlier today I read a witty bit of satire on the blog de-conversion<\/a>, in a post entitled \u201cSalvaging Santa.\u201d<\/a>\u00a0But the more I thought about it, the more I realized that the approach to Santa depicted in that post \u2013 and the approach to faith it was intended to parody \u2013 is in fact one that I\u2019d advocate and view positively.<\/p>\nI think it is the fact that some people still approach the Bible<\/a> or other aspects of traditional religion differently than they approach Santa that is at the heart of the problem \u2013 and its solution.<\/p>\n Most people find that they can indeed embrace both science and Santa<\/a>.\u00a0Many of the \u201cnew atheists\u201d criticize liberal Christians for saying that their religion is not about fact-claims, and is neither against science\u2019s conclusions nor subjectable to scientific verification. Yet many of those same individuals are, I imagine, able to incorporate Santa into the lives of their families. The assumption that Christian faith and Christmas celebration involving Santa are fundamentally different is not necessarily correct \u2013 although I can already hear conservative believers and atheists lining up together\u00a0(as usual)\u00a0to disagree with me.<\/p>\n For at least many liberal<\/a> Christians, even many of those who continue to pray as though expecting some outside source to intervene and change things, in fact are reconciled in practice to the fact that, if \u201cmiracles\u201d are to occur, it will be through human beings acting and not some inexplicable occurrence. Some of us even consider humans caring for others in some ways \u201cmore\u201d of a miracle, but that\u2019s another story.<\/p>\n Of course, as with God, so too with Santa there is a danger that we will use him for ideological<\/a> or commercialistic ends.<\/p>\n What do you think? While some view similarities between Santa and figures from this or that faith tradition as reasons to reject religion, and others try to emphasize that their central figure<\/a> is not really<\/a> like Santa<\/a>, it seems to me that the similarities\u00a0<\/em>in fact do clue us in to what religion is all about \u2013 and why it can be worth hanging on to.<\/p>\n Earlier today I read a witty bit of satire on the blog de-conversion, in a post entitled \u201cSalvaging Santa.\u201d\u00a0But the more I thought about it, the more I realized that the approach to Santa depicted in that post \u2013 and the approach to faith it was intended to parody \u2013 is in fact one that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":136,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1791","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.gringo-times.com\/articles\/images\/santa-sleigh.jpg\")
<\/a>Including Santa in Christmas celebration is a way of symbolizing generosity and the \u201cmagic\u201d of \u201cthe most wonderful time of the year.\u201d But most of us can see that it is a combination of individual, family, community and cultural effort that enables us to have that special feeling at this time of year. One can find places in the world where December 25th is just another day \u2013 nothing special, no special feeling. We<\/em> create that feeling through tradition, ritual, and music \u2013 and of course gift-giving and having at least one day off work. But should we allow the fact that one can study Christmas scientifically, sociologically, historically and musicologically \u2013 and find no actual literal magic therein \u2013 lead us to give up \u201cbelieving in\u201d and more importantly practicing<\/span><\/em>Christmas<\/em>? Or is such a conclusion unnecessary, and Christmas \u2013 including Santa \u2013 something that might be worth preserving even though it can be subjected to the same rationalistic analysis as faith traditions \u2013 and seem to come up short in many of the same ways when thus analysed?<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/blogger.googleusercontent.com\/tracker\/7622297540113836091-2647841912956507832?l=exploringourmatrix.blogspot.com\")