The Ethics of Santa Claus

Nemo — Fri, 05 Aug 2011 07:56:30 +0000

At the point of writing this, there are 141 days until Christmas. For a select few, this countdown will spur on a moment of madness and urgency, much to the tone of “there’s just not enough time!” wherein I imagine a scene from a disaster movie. Whilst this seems like an exaggeration, it appears that people want to shop earlier to avoid any madness or rush – Harrod’s & Selfridges launch Christmas in July, with reason attributed to a demand from international shoppers. Interesting.

Nonetheless, the fact that there are 141 days until Christmas has spawn an interest in me for exploring the ethics of Santa Claus. Those of you who have connections with me on Facebook, Twitter or Google+ will no doubt be aware of this developing interest. Let me explain why:

1. When I was younger I was never forced to believe in Santa Claus, nor was I subject to a cruel shattering of Christmas spirit – I chose for myself not to believe in Santa Claus.

2. I do believe that Santa Claus is the most successful business plan in history, and that majority of Christmas sales are a result of his excessive merchandising.

3. I believe that belief is pure. I do believe that if a child genuinely believes in the existence of Santa Claus, the faith and belief they demonstrate is no less viable or acceptable as a belief in ‘God’.

I essentially want to explore and research the relationship of belief in Santa Claus and belief in later life. This will not be, by any means, an accurate academic piece of work – but it should be interesting.

Over the next few days, I’m going to look at the origins of Santa Claus and explore the integration of this festive character into Christmas. In the meanwhile, have a look at the video.

What did your parents ever tell you when you were young, that you found out later to be complete lies?

Richard Timothy Stephens

The Ethics of Santa Claus