David Vance SubstackRead More
I took my four very young grandchildren to see Santa yesterday. The oldest was 4 years old and the two youngest under 1. They are at that age of total innocence and they were excited to meet Santa as our so many kids of that age. So this story caught my interest…
A vicar has been forced to apologise after telling a group of schoolchildren aged 10 and 11 that Father Christmas was not real.
(Spoiler alert – he’s not)
Pupils reportedly began to sob as Rev Dr Paul Chamberlain made comments during a Religious Education lesson at Lee-on-the-Solent Junior School in Hampshire. One parent described his talk as “absolutely disgusting”, while another said her daughter reckoned the vicar was mistaken and had “lost the plot”,The Anglican Diocese of Portsmouth said Rev Chamberlain accepted it was an “error of judgement”.
Look, it probably was a little injudicious of him to say that out loud but the primary role of a Christian minister must be to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ. Santa is irrelevant in that regards and I am somewhat surprised that 10-11 year olds would “sob” when his non existence pointed out. Accepting that the birth of Christ is about Santa is dangerous and wrong in my view.
When kids are brought in too see Santa they are told that they must “believe” in him. They are told that Santa knows everything about them, if they have been good or bad. In a sense, Santa could easily be seen as an inversion of Jesus Christ and that’s where the danger lies. (It is a coincidence that Santa is an anagram of Satan, I am sure)
I would rather children were encouraged to “believe” in Jesus as that has eternal meaning whereas the drapes of Santa will fall away over a relatively short time. It’s a tough call as we all want to see innocent little children delight in the fantasy figure of Santa but I see it as a possible capture and so this punishment of a Christian cleric does concern me.
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