Freethought & Rationalism Archive

MortalWombat · 12-04-2006, 11:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 555

According to them, Santa Claus was developed by the Coca Cola Company in the 1930's

And they would be wrong.

steamer · 12-04-2006, 11:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pob14

So now it's Christians who are waging war on Christmas? :devil:

Without Santa, Christmas won't be worth celebrating.

pob14 · 12-04-2006, 12:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MortalWombat

And they would be wrong.

Well, yeah, 555 did say:

Quote:

Originally Posted by 555

The ridiculousness of the whole thing is even increased by the rather absurd notion of Coca Cola Company being behind the character, who in its current form was already existing long before Coca Cola was even invented.

pob14 · 12-04-2006, 12:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by steamer

Without Santa, Christmas won't be worth celebrating.

Santa's my guy. Took the kids to see him a while back. The older one (7) wants a telescope, FSM bless her little science-lovin' heart. The younger (5)apparently wants "I don't know." Santa and I had a little discussion about how he's gonna wrap all that "I don't know." :Cheeky:

gstafleu · 12-04-2006, 12:30 PM

Well, the Christians are right in that there is nothing particular Christian about Santa Claus (whose name derives from St. Nicholas btw, who in turn is a slightly Christianized version of a pagan revenant from the otherworld whose function it is to distribute bounty in the time of winter scarceness, but I digress).

Where was I? Yes, St. Nick and his elves, are of course not Christian, neither are either his horses or his reindeer (think Wild Hunt here). But the Christmas tree and its illuminations/decorations are not Christian either, they are an equivalent, offset by half a year, of the maypole. The ever green tree symbolizing survival of life during winter, the lights symbolizing the return of the light at the winter solstice.

Where these people are wrong is of course the nonsense that Coca Cola, as a sort of Antichrist I suppose, did it. These ideas are pre-Christian. And as such should be banned by good little Christians of course. But then so should Maria and all these Saints. Didn't a guy named Luther have something to say about this?

Gerard Stafleu

The Evil One · 12-04-2006, 12:39 PM

He's called FATHER CHRISTMAS round where I come from and he's hundreds of years old. Originally a pagan god, some thhnk.

fatpie42 · 12-04-2006, 02:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 555

Yes but christians will claim as a defence that jesus was born on december 24.

Not if they listen to historians and serious academic theologians, but the kind of Christians you are talking about never listen to those kinds of people anyway. So yeah, I guess you're right. They will.

fatpie42 · 12-04-2006, 03:03 PM

When I first saw this thread I thought someone was campaigning against the appalling 'The Santa Clause' films. Perhaps someone should spell Santa Claus properly?

fatpie42 · 12-04-2006, 03:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Evil One

He's called FATHER CHRISTMAS round where I come from and he's hundreds of years old. Originally a pagan god, some thhnk.

Very possibly a pagan figure originally (much like Christmas was originally the pagan winter festival). However, Father Christmas is also very much a Christian figure since he strongly linked with Saint Nicholas.

Kosh · 12-04-2006, 03:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 555

According to them, Santa Claus was developed by the Coca Cola Company in the 1930's and is stealing all the attention from Christmas' religious meaning. In Germany and Austria the red-clothed old man has already been banned in certain areas, such as Vienna.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santa_claus

Quote:

This inspired the mythical figure of Sinterklaas, the subject of a major celebration in the Netherlands and Belgium, Germany

Those Germans seem to have problems remembering their own history...

Thread Tools	Search this Thread
Show Printable Version	Search this Thread: Advanced Search

12-04-2006, 12:30 PM	#15
gstafleu Veteran Member Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: London, Ontario, Canada Posts: 1,719	Well, the Christians are right in that there is nothing particular Christian about Santa Claus (whose name derives from St. Nicholas btw, who in turn is a slightly Christianized version of a pagan revenant from the otherworld whose function it is to distribute bounty in the time of winter scarceness, but I digress). Where was I? Yes, St. Nick and his elves, are of course not Christian, neither are either his horses or his reindeer (think Wild Hunt here). But the Christmas tree and its illuminations/decorations are not Christian either, they are an equivalent, offset by half a year, of the maypole. The ever green tree symbolizing survival of life during winter, the lights symbolizing the return of the light at the winter solstice. Where these people are wrong is of course the nonsense that Coca Cola, as a sort of Antichrist I suppose, did it. These ideas are pre-Christian. And as such should be banned by good little Christians of course. But then so should Maria and all these Saints. Didn't a guy named Luther have something to say about this? Gerard Stafleu

12-04-2006, 12:39 PM	#16
The Evil One Veteran Member Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: England Posts: 2,561	He's called FATHER CHRISTMAS round where I come from and he's hundreds of years old. Originally a pagan god, some thhnk.

12-04-2006, 03:03 PM	#18
fatpie42 Veteran Member Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: Britain Posts: 5,259	When I first saw this thread I thought someone was campaigning against the appalling 'The Santa Clause' films. Perhaps someone should spell Santa Claus properly?

Freethought & Rationalism Archive

The archives are read only.