Comments about ‘Should churches discourage belief in Santa Claus?’

It's an interesting thought. As a race, we pick and choose what we believe in. Those that grow up in China likely do not believe in Jesus; do parents in China have a delima over whether their children should believe in Santa Claus? Likely they give it no more thought than dragons or the tooth fairy equivalent. Just as there is ample room in our hearts not just to love our children, and our parents, I think there is ample room for a temporary belief in a nice guy who comes around once a year to give gifts.

Now, if this article is referring to the origins of Christianity, where the Romans decided to mix various headonistic religions together to come up with a celebration that they mixed with the theoretical birthdate of Christ, and if we teach our children that somehow Santa Claus is somehow a god related to Christmas, then perhaps it would be best to leave him behind with other made-up events and imaginary creatures.

Certainly, the focus on gift-receiving (rather than true selfless giving) detracts from the Christian messages that are supposed to be delivered during this time of the year.