Many Christians wrestle with the decision of whether or not to allow their children believe in Santa Claus. Some allow it as harmless fun while others discourage it because they fear that their kids will not believe in God once they find out the truth about the jolly old elf. In his article in the Wall Street Journal, Tony Woodlief discusses his view on how childhood belief in fairy tales and fantasies might actually aid children in their belief in God later in life:"I suspect that fairy tales and Santa Claus do prepare us to embrace the ultimate Fairy Tale, the one [C. S.] Lewis believed was ingrained in our being. New research from the Université de Montréal and the University of Ottawa indicates that children aren't overly troubled upon learning that Santa is a myth. But the researchers remained puzzled because while children eventually abandon Santa, they keep believing in God. Lewis would say this is because God is real, but Mr. [Richard] Dawkins fears it is the lasting damage of fairy tales. While Mr. Dawkins stands ironically alongside Puritans in his readiness to ban fairy tales, Christian apologists like Lewis and Chesterton embraced them, precisely because to embrace Christian dogma is to embrace the extrarational."
Read the rest of the article here.
0 comments:
Post a Comment