Southern Baptist Theological Seminary President Albert Mohler Jr. suggested to Christian parents that they shouldn’t treat Santa Claus as an imaginary figure.
In an episode of his podcast “The Briefing” that was posted recently, a listener asked Mohler about his views on how parents should talk to their children about Santa Claus.
Mohler recommended that parents “do not speak of Santa Claus as an imaginary figure,” but instead, when asked about him, focus on the historical figure of Saint Nicholas.
“There is something you’re able to say to a child which is, ‘you know, there was an early Christian who lived long ago who was very kind to children and gave gifts,’” Mohler explained.
“But the reality is, you don’t have to say there never was a Santa Claus, you just have to say, ‘you know, our attention at Christmas isn’t toward any particular human being at all.’”
Mohler went on to state that “Christmas is about the baby born in Bethlehem’s manger and that is something that took place, not just as a story but is true.”
“Christians need to be generous. The reality is that Christians need to love children. And so, we don’t have to go around talking about how much we don’t believe in Santa Claus; we go around talking about how much we do believe in Jesus,” he added.
“Santa Claus is an effective image to convey the importance of giving, generosity, sharing. But when this image loses its meaning, you see Santa Claus aka consumerism, the desire to own, buy, buy and buy again, then you have to revalue it by giving it a new meaning.”