View
Yes, Aquinas, There Is a Santa Claus
Nathan Schlueter on a Disputation in the Scholastic Tradition
Fifth Article: Whether the Practice of the Santa Claus Tradition is Permissible according to the Christian Faith? We proceed thus to the Fifth Article:
Objection 1: It would seem that the practice of the Santa Claus tradition is not permitted by the Christian faith, insofar as pretending to your children that Santa Claus enters your home in some supernatural way, and gives presents, involves lying to your children. Lying, or “to tell a falsehood in order to deceive” ( Summa Theologica [ ST], II-II, q110, a1), is contrary to God’s commandment “Do not lie” (Lev. 19:11). As Scripture says, God will “destroy all who speak falsehood” (Psalm 5:6), and the devil is “a liar and the father of lies” (John 8:44). Accordingly, the Catechism states that “by its very nature lying is to be condemned” ( Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2485).
Objection 2: Further, the consequence of lying to children about Santa Claus will be that children will lose trust in their parents when they discover the truth, and that they will become cynical and skeptical about the truly miraculous and supernatural.
Objection 3: Further, even if practiced for the benefit of children, this practice would not be without sin. For as St. Augustine states, even beneficial lies are sinful: “There are two kinds of lie, that are not grievously sinful yet are not devoid of sin, when we lie either in joking, or for the sake of our neighbor’s good” ( ST, II-II, q110, a4).
Objection 4: Further, the Sub-creator (J. R. R. Tolkien, On Fairy-Stories[ OFS]) distinguishes between Fantasy, or the creation of a Secondary World possessing the inner consistency of reality, and Magic, which “produces, or pretends to produce, an alteration in the Primary World” for the sake of power and the “domination of things and wills.” But the practice of the Santa Claus tradition involves the pretended alteration of the Primary World and therefore is like Magic rather than Fantasy. Magic, especially when it is associated with religious practice, is a potential source of confusion in the faith and is possibly even idolatrous.
Objection 5: Further, even if the practice of the Santa Claus tradition is Fantasy rather than Magic, Fantasy is contrary to the Gospel. For Christ alone is the Truth (John 14:6) which sets us free (John 8:32), while Fantasy, Fable, and Myth are rooted in falsehood and paganism, which Christ came to expose and extirpate.
Objection 6: Further, the contemporary practice of the Santa Claus tradition is a secularized substitute for the real meaning of Christmas and thus furthers secularization and consumerism.
Objection 7: Further, even if Fantasy is consonant with the Gospel, the practice of the Santa Claus tradition is contrary to the Gospel. For Fantasy involves the willing suspension of disbelief, in which the hearers of the story know and understand the story to be merely a story, whereas in the practice of the Santa Claus tradition children are being led to believe the story is true, and thus are being intentionally deceived by a deliberate falsehood. That is, they are being lied to, which as stated above, is wrong. On the Contrary
On the contrary, the Apostle states (1 Cor. 9:22–23), “I have become all things to all men, that I might by all means save some. I do it for the sake of the Gospel, that I might share in its blessings.” But becoming all things to all men means sometimes appearing to be what one is not, as the Apostle claims to do in the preceding remarks: “to those under the law I became as one under the law—though not being myself under the law—that I might win those under the law.”
Nathan Schlueter is Associate Professor of Philosophy at Hillsdale College in Michigan, where he lives with his wife and six children. He is currently writing a book entitled Utopian Fiction: Recovering the Political Science of the Imagination. His latest book, The Humane Vision of Wendell Berry (ISI Books), will be out this spring.
A Journal of Mere Christianity—Delivered to Your Door
- Essays on theology, culture, and the Church
- Contributors from across the Christian traditions
Six print issues (one year) of Touchstone, plus full online access and PDF downloads for only $39.95.
Get a one-year full-access subscription to the Touchstone online archives for only $19.95.
bulk subscriptions
Order Touchstone subscriptions in bulk and save $10 per sub! Each subscription includes 6 issues of Touchstone plus full online access to touchstonemag.com—including archives, videos, and pdf downloads of recent issues for only $29.95 each! Great for churches or study groups.
Transactions will be processed on a secure server.
more from the online archives
32.4—July/August 2019
Does Biblical Language for Man Matter? by Stephen F. Noll
19.4—May 2006
The Culture War Is Between Religious Believers on Both Sides by Howard P. Kainz
30.5—Sept/Oct 2017
The Critical History Before, During & After Martin Luther by James Hitchcock
calling all readers
Please Donate
"There are magazines worth reading but few worth saving . . . Touchstone is just such a magazine."
—Alice von Hildebrand
"Here we do not concede one square millimeter of territory to falsehood, folly, contemporary sentimentality, or fashion. We speak the truth, and let God be our judge. . . . Touchstone is the one committedly Christian conservative journal."
—Anthony Esolen, Touchstone senior editor
