Idolatry 11: But I Don't Worship Father Christmas ...

The first thing we need to do is get ideas of formal worship out of our heads.  I am not in any way claiming there are groups of people who organise worship of Santa.  However, we need to be aware of the root of the word worship: to ascribe worth to something.

Also, we should remember idols have a material and a non-material aspect .  The image points to something else and that something else is where out true allegiances lie.  Father Christmas is the god of our consumer society.  I will describe how we worship this god in my next post.

This idol tightens its grip as the child discovers there is no such thing as Santa Claus.  The illusion starts once we persuade ourselves there is nothing to believe in.

First up, some Christians will say either (a) we don't worship Santa or (b) we know he is an idol and so we have nothing to do with him.  To both groups, I reply 'fine, if you don't worship Santa, there's no problem'.  But, are you sure?  Do you really focus on the nativity and cut yourself off from all the advertising and commercial pressure of Christmas? 

Christians can learn from Father Christmas, how the society we minister in works.  We are enslaved by this idol through debt, indulgence, damage to the environment.  It all derives from our annual celebration of consumerism.  Why are we unable to take it seriously? 

If we distance ourselves too much  from the fun, we'll be accused of being miserable haters of the simple enjoyment of family life.  The problem we face is that we're not supposed to take it seriously.  To take it seriously is graceless, it misses the point of the great big annual celebration.  In short if we take it seriously, no-one else will take us seriously. 

Now onto atheist objections.  I wish I was confident your scepticism extends this far.  The world is under colossal pressure because of the impact consumerism is having on its ecology.  Am I hearing you correctly when you say the greatest threat is Christianity or religion?  Really?  In Europe Christians have been crushed by the juggernaut of consumerism.  We're not the threat.  Whether we're part of the solution perhaps remains to be seen but try to get a little perspective please.

I don't hear an atheist critique of consumerism and this worries me because it suggests a blind spot.  Now I know many environmentalists are atheist but how many see the motivations that make humanity so helpless are spiritual?  Spiritual forces are not angels and demons (wherever do you get these ideas from?) they are the power our institutions have over us. 

Do you know about the power of institutions?  Are you aware that you are subject to them, your actions are determined by them, just like everyone else?  If we're serious about tackling these insurmountable difficulties then you need to see what imprisons us.

Christians are not immune.  Many Christians live in fantasy worlds.  Ultimately they cannot witness to their faith because they see only fantasies.  However, faith sharpens the outlines of the world, brings things into focus.  So, if you are an atheist, you need to ask yourself are you sure you see things clearly?  How do the powers distort your vision?  How do you identify them and tackle them?  You might not believe in God, but can you in all honesty say you don't believe in Father Christmas?

Comments

[Fourcultures]

I could ahrdly agree with you maore about Santa. Check out what I wrota about evidence for his existence and for links to research on how children deal with this strange adult behaviour.
http://fourcultures.com/2008/12/16/evidence-for-the-existence-of-santa/http://fourcultures.com/2008/12/16/evidence-for-the-existence-of-santa/

[Fourcultures]

Sorry - I was using someone else's keyboard in the dark...

[Chris Sissons]

Thank you for this link. If other readers see this, they might like to visit your site and also follow some of the links to other related posts.

Your emphasis is on the implications for individual children whilst mine is on the implications for wider society and so our views complement each others.

[portable keyboards]

We are ll entitled of our own belief or faith. What matter is how e live our lives. People believe on supreme being while others don't. Others celebrate Christmas and other didn't. This is just a manifestation of individual faith. Keep it up.

[Chris Sissons]

Of course we're all entitled to our beliefs. But we depend on one another to challenge our unexamined beliefs. It is easy not to believe in any God but we don't consider what believing involves in practice.