Priest who tells kids that Santa Claus doesn't exist... What do you think about that?

I personally don’t feel that we should be lying to our children about Santa Claus (or anything else), but it wasn’t his place to tell the children. Leave it up to the parents.

Well, my brother told me when I was little, about five or six… I poked him in the eye!! :-/
Leave it up to the parents…. Ditto…...

I’m neutral about this except for one thing – it was not the priest’s place to take it upon himself to decide how this issue should be decided for the family in question.

Not his place. They can easily and understandably make the birth of Christ the focus of Christmas in a Catholic school. They don’t need to mention Santa at all in order to do that.

It evens out. I remind kids nearly daily that there isn’t a god.

He was out of line. It’s up to the parents to handle the Santa Claus however they see fit.

Not his place at all!!!

But personally I wouldn’t be leaving my children alone with a priest for them to tell my kids anything!

Very hypocritical in my book and I would yank my kid immediately. Whose next on his hit list??

Easter Bunny on Easter Sunday…
Cupid and Valentines day…
Great Pumpkin on Halloween….
Uncle Sam on the 4th of July…
Leprechauns on St. Patricks day….
Betty Crocker on Meatloaf Day…
Where will he draw the line???

@Cruiser Sarah Palin on Inauguration Day?

@jonsblond <<Knuckles>>

@jonsblond : <<chuckles>>

The priest should have also mentioned that, for the exact same reason, the Christian god doesn’t exist and his entire profession is a sham.

@Cruiser – what the heck is Betty Crocker Meatloaf day??? I am missing that one and I haven’t talked to a priest in about a million years! And I like meatloaf!

Same thing happened to me when I was a kid, cranky old priest told us first graders, but I think most of us were non believers by then anyhow. It caused no permanent psychological damage (that came later, heheh).

But I agree, it was not in his place and I would let my feelings be known that I am unhappy about the guy shooting off his mouth.

There are two versions of Christmas and everybody knows it. One is the Christian religious holiday, and the other is the secular celebration of the season which is probably rooted in the pagan winter festival that the Romans celebrated. Neither philosophy of the event actually “owns” it. Even people who believe in an historical Jesus are doubtful that he was born on December 25.
The priest should remember one of Jesus’ quotes-Render unto Caesar that which is Caesar’s…
I really can’t stand people who have something against kid’s belief in Santa Claus. It is clearly all in fun, and everybody grows out of it. Didn’t priests sort of become obsolete with Martin Luther?

Why would a priest lie to his class like that?

I don’t believe in lying to children about anything.

It sucks that the priest ruined the spirit of St. Nick but the truth is the truth. I hope the priest did not start the conversation about Santa Claus but instead that the child asked the priest, and that the priest was stuck addressing the issue. Santa Claus, as he is currently portrayed, is not compatible with Christmas, in my opinion. Santa Claus is portrayed as a man who uses magic to travel around the world and invade people’s houses to deliver worldly goods. Christianity is a religion that favors the poor because they do not have a strong bond with the physical world and appears to have issue with magic as well, although the miracles are somehow different, and ok.

@tigress3681 it seems to me that Santa Claus is perfectly compatible with Christianity. Both require a willing suspension of disbelief and a childish belief in magic. They should be BFF.

@CyanoticWasp Haha, from a non-Christian/Catholic perspective, I completely agree, however from a strictly biblical christian perspective, I couldnt disagree more!

The priest should not have told the class.

Lame ass

The priest was probably jealous of all the attention kids give to Santa. The dirty sick bastard wants them to himself!

@tigress3681, I’ve always thought Santa Claus was like training wheels for the Christian god. Both know when you’re naughty and when you’re nice, and keep detailed lists. In both cases this quality is used as a carrot/stick to manipulate people’s behavior. Both flagrantly break the laws of physics (traveling to all houses in one night, the Trinity). Both function as central authority-like figures in ideological power structures of their day—capitalism in Santa’s case, early Hebrew and Christian cults and, later, political Christiandom in Yahweh’s case.