Yes, Virginia

[NotReady]

Inspired by a recent thread I looked it up. There is a Santa Claus

[vhawk01]

I can only hope that most of that was tongue-in-cheek. I've heard about this before but this is the first time I've read the actual article.

[NotReady]

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I can only hope that most of that was tongue-in-cheek.


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Not completely. I would phrase it different than that editor. But I cringe when a Christian parent lampoons the idea of Santa Claus (tooth fairy, Easter Bunny, Halloween) without more.

I think a discussion along these lines could be interesting. C.S. Lewis included Father Christmas in The Chronicles of Narnia. What's mostly lacking, and was in Lewis' day as well as the time of the editorial, is what Lewis called a baptism of the imagination - not using baptism to refer to Christian doctrine. The recent popularity of the movie Narnia, LOTR and the whole Potter thing shows we haven't yet killed it off.

[BluffTHIS!]

NR,

Do you think C.S. Lewis thought that children would/should think the characters in his books were real, or just entertaining stories that often made some moral points?

[NotReady]

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Do you think C.S. Lewis thought that children would/should think the characters in his books were real, or just entertaining stories that often made some moral points?


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That's irrelevant because since talking lions aren't real it's obvious God doesn't exist.

[John21]

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Do you think C.S. Lewis thought that children would/should think the characters in his books were real, or just entertaining stories that often made some moral points?


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That's irrelevant because since talking lions aren't real it's obvious God doesn't exist.

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[MaxWeiss]

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Do you think C.S. Lewis thought that children would/should think the characters in his books were real, or just entertaining stories that often made some moral points?


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That's irrelevant because since talking lions aren't real it's obvious God doesn't exist.

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[img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

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That's funny. [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img] However, there is some damage the article does. I don't think it would be apparent to an eight year old how metaphorically the piece was, and thus with the statement that Santa does exist, it does harm and confusion.

[NotReady]

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However, there is some damage the article does. I don't think it would be apparent to an eight year old how metaphorically the piece was, and thus with the statement that Santa does exist, it does harm and confusion.


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That's why God invented parents.

[alphatmw]

has anyone in history ever truly only believed what they saw?

[hmkpoker]

NotReady:

I think this is a very good point, actually. Ontological debates aside, there can be very good utility in a belief like theism. Even an atheist should be able to admit that.