Santa is the Devil in disguise- Poor little 4 year old

[msmiggins]

Don't you just love it- my poor 4 year old great nephew has been taught by nursery to reject Santa as he is the devil.
They have even given a lesson to show that the word Santa is an anagram of Satan- which proves it- obviously.
Now the poor mite hides when he sees anyone dressed up as santa selling christmas trees or in the store.
Don't ya just love what the church can do to young minds!

[DevonFolk]

I'm speechless. In the UK? Did his parents know how imposing the nursery is of it's views before this?

[DustyBaubles]

I don't think it the church per se, unless its some odd anti santa denomination!?

I'd say its more likely to be a random grinch, with issues.

Santa is paying multiple visits to most of the churches/church schools/preschools round here.

Kudos though, on having a four year old who gets anagrams

You you and his parents/Disney/The Coca-Cola Company not have any influence at all over the child at all?

[msmiggins]

He goes to a church school deliberately chosen by his parents' I'm afraid. His parents agree with the teachings of the school ( Baptist) and they went to the same school themselves. They have two other children and pass on the same message about santa at home. This idea of Santa being the devil is not unusual in the baptist faith I'm afraid. My sister ( the boys grandmother) also goes to the same church run by the school, and even works a the school.
This is a large ( 500 pupil) private faith school.
The poor little boy is very nervous about christmas- and I made the mistake of sending them christmas card with a picture of Santa on it, before I found out that they were so anti- santa.

[DustyBaubles]

Oh dear! Are they in the U.S?

Seems a bit odd, if they believe the devil/satan is real, to drag a properly commercial made up figure into it at all.

thankfull the UK baptists I've met seem to take a softer line. Either that, or the people who run the Boys Brigade my sons attend are proper renegades!

[DevonFolk]

Ok so your OP was misleading. The boy's parents are teaching him this both at home and have chosen the nursery specifically to support their beliefs.

If that's the way they want to bring their children up then that's their choice.

[DevonFolk]

both

[flipchart]

Blindly, is it West Boro Baptist your sister goes to. They are a bunch of extremists to say the least and would love this sort of stuff!

[LaurieFairyCake]

The idea of Santa being the devil is so unusual in the baptist faith I've never heard of it! (I go to a baptist church)

Are you in America?

[msmiggins]

Devonfolk- I didn't intend to mislead- i just find it very sad and manipulative to put such frightning thoughts into a small child's mind- whether it's at school or at home.
Doubly difficult when it's part of your own family.

The boy lives in Australia btw.

[MarianneEnjolras]

Is "Father Christmas" an anagram of Satan too?

[bellsringingoutforMadHairDay]

Never mind that Santa Claus is a variation of Saint Nicholas and that Santa means Saint?

I am shocked by this. I've never heard of such a thing being said. All I can say is that it is NOT representative of most churches. Most Christians I know do Santa quite happily alongside celebrating Jesus' birth. Santa has always been part of Christmas for us. This kind of teaching is not only mean but wrong. But if his parents want that for him that's up to them, and the school haven't gone against their wishes I suppose.

[stressedHEmum]

JWs do the whole Santa is an anagram of Satan thing as well - but they also think that the whole "saint" thing is the work of the Devil. Christmas is definitely Satan worship, too.

[NoComet]

Santa Barbara , Santa Monica are all full of devils too, I presume.

Honestly, words fail me.

I come from an atheist house hold that didn't do Santa, but no one ever told me those who did were wrong.

My parents said they didn't like lying (and my DM, lovely though she is, is not a romantic soul, play acting Santa would make her feel silly) also we had no spare money for stocking tat.

[BackOnlyBriefly]

When I read that I thought it was just one overzealous group, but I just googled it to see lots of people saying Santa is the devil.

I could understand it if they said it was all too commercial and detracting from the 'real meaning of christmas' but that's just ridiculous isn't it.

So they are frightening children with an image they will see everywhere.

[nicename]

That's a bit sad. Poor kids will be terrified every time they walk down the street at this time of year!

[NoComet]

I've seen a little JW girl (Y3) in tears as school Christmas fun went on around her.

It's just wrong.

Families of other faiths manage to balance their beliefs with Christmas, so it seems ridiculous that some fundamentalist Christians can't.

[BackOnlyBriefly]

ok looking more it may not be that common. The trouble with the internet is that one sad person's site looks like a whole christian denomination.

Couldn't find JWs saying outright that santa is the devil as it goes though they don't seem to like christmas.

[thegreenheartofmanyroundabouts]

Poor lad. Australia is very conservative in some area as they are influenced by American fundamentalism. Sydney is very conservative theologically.

I've never heard of Baptists doing the Santa = Satan thing but there are certainly conservative bits of that denomination.

My children were scared about the idea of Santa coming into the house when they were small as we didn't have a chimney so they couldn't quite work out how he was going to get in. So I used to tell them that I would wait up for Santa and let him in. One year the oldest ones tried to tell the little one that there was no such thing as Santa so I used the NORAD Santa-tracking to keep the legend alive for one more year.

[crunchypower]

It's sad that they are forced to believe in satan. Santa I can take or leave as a concept but twisting it like this is cruel.

[Greensleeves]

Stupid abusive bastards

they shouldn't be allowed anywhere near a school

[zipzap]

I'd be very tempted if I was there with him in person to say that the people teaching him have got it all mixed up - santa is just an abbreviated way of saying Saint Nicholas and tell him the story of saint nicholas so he can see that he is on the side of good not bad. At least it would help him to see that maybe what he is being taught at nursery isn't always quite as correct or as black and white fixed truth as they try to tell him. And would help him to be not so scared when he sees anyone dressed as Santa. So sad. Mind you, I guess his parents wouldn't be too pleased but I would be prepared to take the risk. There are so many horrible and evil nasty things in the world that it seems bonkers to demonise something that for most people is there to bring joy commercialisation and fun into the dreariness of winter.

complete side track: marianne no - but Father Christmas is an anagram of Mr rich Fat Ass

This is a very funny brand treatment of Santa if you're used to seeing these sort of books for the brand of the company you work for etc etc

[msmiggins]

Although I am athiest and very against what this young lad has been told I do appreciate that the rppts of Santa can be traced back to Pagan times- Odin with his reindeers, Diobysis, and the old man of the forest- the celtic hunting god, Cernunnous, who had cloven hooves and antlers and was bastardized into the christian satan. This is waht upsets the poeople in the church that my family attends.
My sister thinks that we even leave out pagan offerings to Santa- mince pies and biscuits on the alter of the hearth.


I can't imagine how a 4 year old must feel at this time of year with santa images everywhere- in shops, on tv, posters etc. How can the poor thing sleep at night counting down the days till satan pays a visit.

Nice.

[DevonFolk]

How and when did you and your sister end up with such vastly different beliefs? What were you taught as children?

[msmiggins]

Interesting question Devon. We were not brought up in a faith, I would hesitate to say athiest- religion wasn't really discussed or thought about as a family. My sister left home and married at 16 when I was 10 years old- then emigrated to Australia within a year or two. She then became a born again christian at the age of 20, perhaps lonely, no family support- I can't say.
She threw herself into her faith, and became heavily involved with the church, eventually sending her own two children to a Baptist school. My Athiest views have only deepened over the years.
My sister's children have now grown, one remains committed to the church and is bringing up her own children ( including the 4 year old in the same faith) the other has rebelled and has rejected the church although finds her life an uphill struggle because of early influence.
My sister remains very religious, takes the bible literally, believes Satan is on every street corner and is a creationist.
Religion has caused a great divide and much bad feeling within our family- perhaps why I hold it in such disregard.

[SconeRhymesWithGone]

I live in the US Bible Belt which means I know a lot of Baptists. Some are my relatives. They all have Santa.

This notion may be a feature of some fundamentalist sects, but I am pretty sure that mainstream Baptists in the US do not generally promote this notion of Santa as Satan.