<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by H2Finally:
I'm gonna jump in for some fun here
While Santa can be considered a positive tradition (because it at least encourages good behavior from children), that borders on cultural for many Western societies -- it is not religious (because it motivates with materialistic instead of spiritual rewards; akin to 'praying for wealth'
).
Many Christians go as far as to consider Santa a tradition which undermines and distracts from the birth of Christ -- resulting in Christmas being the only birthday where everyone
except the birthday Boy gets the present & attention...
S A N T A --> scrambled --> S A T A N
Coincidence? You decide
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It's not a coincidence at all! In fact, both Santa (saint) and Satan - the OPPOSITE of a saint, have their roots in ancient Latin and, in a antithetical way, are words dealing with the same subject. You are right - many modern fundamentalist Christians abhore the whole Santa thing. Of course, many Catholics also ignore the golden crosses and fine purple robes which adorn the Vatican and the Pope - while they worship a man who wore sack cloth and was dressed in a purple robe near the time of his execution to HUMILIATE him. Let's not even talk about the radical fundamentalist Islamic community that believes Allah is calling them to suicide and mass murder.....there is enough hypocracy in this world to go around, huh?
I just like seeing little kids smile and giggle when the right jolly old elf comes around once a year.
Sean