Isn't telling people there is no God just like telling your children there is no Santa?

Question

Why do we tell our children there is no Santa or Easter Bunny? Why not let them keep on believing?
And please don't tell me about false Idols, because thats the lazy answer.

I believe it so they won't have difficulty seperating fantasy from reality later in life.

How is God anymore or less real than the Easter Bunny? Prove to me that there is any real difference.

Answer 1

If I had kids I wouldn't dilute them with silliness.If they wanted to believe, then I wouldn't stop them.But I wouldn't force anything on them nor would try to convince them of God, the Easter Bunny(though I call myself that), Santa, or anything else.

Answer 2

To tell someone there is no Santa Clause would be sharing Truth. We as adults know already there is no Santa, or Easter Bunny. That is a Fairy tale. To Spoil a child's fantasy is only as bad as telling them about the Fallacy in the first place. To set someone up for a "reality check " later in life is ones own decision and could only be debated as to its relevance or purpose.

As far as telling someone there is no God, that can not be the same. It is a personal opinion or belief that one can only share as there own. Not as Truth. No one has ever proved that God does not exist so it can not be the same.

Answer 3

Yes, belief in God and Santa is the same.

Telling your children that Santa and the Easter Bunny exist is a precursor to a lifetime of belief in magical beings (aka God, Jesus, Holy Spirit, Saints, Mary, etc..). People will believe in God until it is proven to them that there is no God, which can never happen. Kids believe in Santa until they catch their parents placing gifts around the tree and eating the milk and cookies.

Now, I am sure many on this thread will say the 'know' there is a God through personal experience, but they should be treated the same as a child who 'knows' there is a Santa because gifts always show up on December 25th.

Answer 4

I think for the most part most of us do tell our kids about santa and the easter bunny. I didn't tell my daughter they weren't real until she figured it out herself, I don't remember how old she was, but she finally figured it out naturally.
God is not in the same category however. He is real and not at all like the little stories about santa or the easter bunny. It's important that they learn about Him.

Answer 5

There's a big difference there. They are both faith based but one is in innocence and the other is in reflection of life experiences.

With children it is about magic and fantasy and the wonders of what the world has in store. The great mysteries of childhood. It's the magic of innocence.

With adults, the magic is gone from childish things and the real world has shown its true colors. Good or bad. Adults have reached the age of understanding and have hopefully attained the ability to reason and the capacity to reflect on their life.

Taking the magic out of something so simple sweet and pure as the beliefs that that children hold for the magical holidays is wrong and mean.

Trying to steal anothers faith is just as wrong. Faith is what keeps many attending church and faith is also what keeps terminal patients fighting. What works for one may not work for all. What is important is respecting anothers beliefs whether they are shared by you or not.

Answer 6

I didn't find this a challenge at all, as a Catholic. When my daughter got to the right age, I sat her down and told her about a long ago place called Myra, and a kindly bishop named Nicholas whose shy and gentle nature changed the nature of gift giving forever.

He is one of our great saints, and my daughter transitioned her childhood belief in a red suited jolly fellow into a reverence for a wise paternal figure who was a shining example of what a Christian should be in an age (under Diocletian) when being a Christian was a difficult challenge.

Maybe it is that way with God. He may not be quite as atheists deride him, some old bearded guy floating on clouds just below the stratosphere. That may be the God they typically characterize Christian belief of God to be, even though it is a transcendant spiritual being that we truly believe him to be. But like the reality of St. Nicholas, he may in fact be something more wonderful than what they inaccurately deride him for being.

Answer 7

Santa Claus represents something-- Faith, love & hope-- that's my opinion. Easter Bunny is the same-- it's a representation of something.

Now, God is real-- He is the Creator of the universe and everyone that breathes here on earth. God does not represent anything. God is God, the One true God-- the great I AM...

Answer 8

Well i belive in god and i think that parents mainly decide for theire children what they belive because my parents belived in god and i do too, were if your parents dont you probally wont, but there are some chances that wont happen but though its not going to happen, let kids decide. Also if you didnt belive in god you probally dont belive in Xmas right so they would tell them theres no Santa also? lol. Thats my best answer

Answer 9

When did Santa, the Easter Bunny create something as life sustaining as "water",or seeds.A word to the ignorant-PEACE!

Answer 10

Sooner or later people have to know the truth. On the other hand there's a sense of wonder which is worth preserving as long as it isn't inhibiting normal functioning. It's all in getting the balance; they have to be told eventually.