Comments

  1. says

    Nonsense, I went up to Santa Claus’ house in North Pole, Alaska and outside was a 20 foot tall Santa in a cryogenic state until Dec. 25th. Of course Santa is real.

  2. shouldbeworking says

    Of course santa is Canadian, my nephew sent a letter to him and the postal code was HOH OHO.

  3. says

    Well, skeptical eggheads, tell me how life arose, if Santa didn’t make life. Morons!

    Because there are only two alternatives, either natural processes can make life, or Santa did it. /snark

    Sorry, been paying some attention to Moshe Averick (there’s been some back and forth between him and Coyne) blithering on about how God is necessary using just that stupid “argument.”

    Glen Davidson

  4. JoeKaistoe says

    Automated online sign-up sheets already gave me the heart-wrenching news that Santa doesn’t exist when it told me that H0H 0H0 wasn’t a real postal code.

    Talk about shattering an innocent 19 year child’s hopes and dreams…

  5. bromion says

    It always amazed me that Christians tell their kids about a magical man who can see them always and judge their behavior for reward or punishment, only to ultimately reveal that it’s a childhood trope with no basis in reality. They simultaneously tell them about another magical man who can see them always and judge their behavior for reward or punishment, and expect them to believe it fully and forever!

    It’s a wonder this process doesn’t create more atheists on the spot! I guess it’s a testament to human gullibility and groupthink.

  6. 'Tis Himself, OM. says

    He’s makin’ a list, checkin’ it twice
    Gonna find out who’s naughty or nice
    Santa Claus is coming to town
    He knows when you are sleepin’
    He knows when you’re awake
    He knows if you’ve been good or bad

    Santa Claus, jolly old elf or stalker?

  7. Loqi says

    @17
    What a shitty poll. They have options for “Nontheist” and “Secular Humanist.” Way to split the vote.

  8. Dick the Damned says

    Loqi, aren’t they often crap? But with ‘Nontheist’ on 10%, & ‘Secular Humanist’ on only 3%, i think ‘Nontheist’ is the option to choose.

  9. tblade says

    Am I the only atheist/skeptic that enjoys perpetuating the Santa Claus myth? It’s good, mischevious fun. Plus, I loved the “magic” of Santa as a kid.

    It also allows me to say later in a young person’s life, “Remember everything you eventually learned about Santa? Now apply the same process to Jesus. Doesn’t Jesus seem a lot like a version of Santa for adults?”

  10. ikesolem says

    Santa Claus was a reindeer-urine swilling Amanita muscaria addict of Siberian-Laplander extraction, but he had a good time and enjoyed life, and made the people around him happy.

    When the Christians came along and encountered this mythical-shamanic figure, they did their typical syncretic deal, and made him into the herald of Jesus of Nazareth, thereby folding the old pagan religion into their own, winning converts, etc. This is standard historical Christian behavior – the Virgin Mary played a similar role when it came to converting pagans who worshiped female deities, etc.

    It’s a cute fairy tale, but then, so is the whole “God” thing.

    No kidding, that’s the best explanation for the existence of Santa Claus in the Christian mythology – a syncretic fusion with Amanita muscaria-using shamanic traditions from Northern Europe.

  11. Dr. Audley Z. Darkheart, liar and scoundrel says

    As if Xmas wasn’t already shitty enough, you have to go and ruin it further by telling me that there is no Santa.

    Thanks a lot, PZ.

  12. ikesolem says

    “…Why should I bother being good all year?”

    Hmmm…. the police, the courts and the prisons? That’s how civilized societies replaced religious doctrine – with a system of (fair and impartial?) laws that (supposedly) all citizens were subject to… though, to tell the truth, in this corrupt system you can buy your way out of just about anything, most of the time, as per O.J. Simpson.

  13. Julien Rousseau says

    You can’t prove that there is no Santa Claus, and until you do I am justified in believing there is one.

    Beside my belief in Santa Claus is rational, I have the evidence of all the gifts appearing at the foot of the tree and the milk and cookies being eaten. If Santa didn’t do it, how did it happen? Do you really believe that it can be the result of random chance? Asantaists are so stoopid.
    /sarcasm

  14. peterwhite says

    My 4 year old daughter told me there was no Santa Claus. It’s been 30 years since that happened and I still haven’t recovered.

  15. jimmauch says

    reply to ‘Tis Himself, OM.:

    So well Said! We are talking Christas North Korea here.

    —————–prior message——————-
    >23 December 2011 at 2:19 pm
    >He’s makin’ a list, checkin’ it twice
    >Gonna find out who’s naughty or nice
    >Santa Claus is coming to town
    >He knows when you are sleepin’
    >He knows when you’re awake
    >He knows if you’ve been good or bad

    >Santa Claus, jolly old elf or stalker?

  16. F says

    Oh bullshit. I remember when Santa made a big deal out of Google Street View showing too much of his workshop.

  17. anchor says

    Any parent who invites their children to look at the Sun to see anything is condemning the child to permanent blindness and should be prosecuted for child abuse.

  18. eoleen says

    WHEW!!!!! I thought for a minute there that your wife was going to tell you that she was pregnant again…