What God, Ghosts, Santa Clause & Other Imaginary Things Have In Common

I’ve heard (mostly from Christians) the accusation that atheists tend to replace Christianity with other forms of spirituality. Specifically, I’ve heard it said that we often believe in paranormal concepts such as ghosts, witchcraft, telepathy and past lives. The implication of these claims is that an atheist who believes in unproven paranormal stuff has no business being critical of people who believe in god.

Point taken. However, becoming an atheist didn’t affect me in that way at all. In fact, becoming an atheist was accompanied by a rejection of the paranormal. Why?

The answer is that becoming an atheist was an outcome of examining evidence and arguments for and against the existence of god. In other words, it was an act of dedication to critical thinking. Applying that same process to the paranormal led to the same outcome – I rejected all of those things.

I remember quite clearly how rejecting god was like pulling out the bottom of a house of cards – belief in the paranormal came tumbling down as well. Not only was there no god, but there were also no boogie men hiding in the dark. I’m not saying I used to believe in the paranormal but, when I began examining god more closely, I also examined the paranormal and stopped taking pseudo-science seriously.

My world changed practically overnight.

The Reverse Must Also Be True!

I’ve been watching my kids grapple with the imaginary stuff of the world. They want Santa to be real. They fear monsters under the bed. They think there are scary, wild things in the basement.

Why?

It’s my fault. Our fault. We parents of children. We adults of society. We teach our children that there are things – imaginary things – around us that we cannot see. We teach them that fairies come while they sleep to take fallen teeth. We teach them that a big, jolly magic man slides down the chimney to leave toys. We teach them that there’s a white-haired old man in the sky watching their every move, listening in on their every thought. We teach them that there are devils in the world trying to hurt and make people do bad things.

All this. All this teaches our children to be superstitious. It is the building up of the house of cards I just tore down in my own life.

Every time we teach a young child that there is something imaginary that they cannot see – that they cannot ever see, it opens their minds up to be superstitious in other areas. We provide a doorway for superstition to stay with our children into adulthood. Frankly, I’m surprised people aren’t more superstitious.

Ghosts, God, Santa Clause, Satan and the Tooth Fairy are all attacks on our ability to be rational and accept only what can be proven with evidence and critical thinking.

If I got to start over as a parent, I’d eliminate every imaginary thing. There would be no tooth fairy (but there would be fun around the loss of the tooth). There would be no Santa Claus (but there would be presents and an appreciation for life’s gifts). Imaginary things would be banished in my home based on the notion that imaginary things do real damage to a child ‘s mind.

Imaginary things impede children from fully growing up…

…and that’s only a good thing if you’re Peter Pan.

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December 14, 2008 · Filed Under Atheism, Family Matters

Comments

18 Responses to “What God, Ghosts, Santa Clause & Other Imaginary Things Have In Common”

  1. john on December 14th, 2008 at 5:46 pm

    That was awesome- what’s fun have to do with imaginary things anyway??? – you can have fun when doing REAL things with your children- the universe is amazing enough in reality- there is no need to make up stuff for fun

  2. beverly on December 16th, 2008 at 11:02 am

    “Imaginary things impede children from fully growing up”.

    I couldn’t disagree more.  Allowing kids to be kids, and delight in the concept of imagination has nothing to do with Atheist or Christian beliefs.  Wonder and awe and excitement are time-sensitive gifts to the human experience, only fully able to be experienced by children. 

    Children grow up when … they are grown up.

  3. Mark on December 19th, 2008 at 11:48 am

    Beverly,

    Kids can have imagination, wonder, awe and excitement without believing in imaginary things. The real world is full of inspiration for those things without believing in fairies.

  4. Brandon Malave on December 20th, 2008 at 8:18 pm

    Well said, and you pointed out a big point – the belief in imaginary things while young makes it harder to let go of sophisticated imaginary things when one is older. However I won’t go as far as telling my kids to believe in things that can only be proven – a lot of science starts off with beliefs in unproven before they can conclude it as fact, heck that is what essentially competing theories are over an idea where neither side is factual. I prefer to teach my kids to be skeptical and to rationalize things out but I don’t want them to limit their mindsets.

  5. bipolar2 on December 25th, 2008 at 4:23 pm

    >> religion belongs to culture, not some supra-sensible existence

    Words like ‘god’ ‘theism’ ‘atheism’ are highly ambiguous — they have multiple acceptable meanings. They are also vague — the criteria for employing one meaning rather than another are ill-defined.

    To be precise I use one long word, I’m a complete “anti-supernaturalist.” One who opposes any doctrine of any supernatural realm, whether of Platonic ideas, Aristotelian entelechies, gods, demons, spirits, minds, karma, reincarnation.

    We godless anti-supernaturalists accept only one world. The world we call *nature*. 

    Religions belong to cultures embedded in nature. And *cultures* are our distinctive human-all-too-human handiwork. Religions are obsolete, dispensable cultural artifacts.

    Any particular religion reenacts and institutionalizes a cultic myth. It gets spread through custom and imitation, financially supported by mores and law, and enforced by intimidation and violence.

    Followers of zoroastrianism, judaism, xianity, islam easily became dupes and fodder for highly militarized empires, ancient and modern.

    bipolar2 ©2008

  6. lneely on December 26th, 2008 at 3:06 pm

    I’m not sure I agree with this sentiment.  I don’t think that imaginary things are latently harmful; it is treating imaginary things as if they are real, and never bothering to explain the difference between fantasy and reality, that does the harm.

    We delve into the world of fantasy every time we pick up an exciting book.  We become the hobbits and wizards of Tolkien’s tales when we read them, but we are able to realize when we put the book down that none of it is real, but what a wild trip!

    I think imagination is vital to existence.  The only time we need to start worrying is when one cannot tell the difference between fantasy and reality.

  7. lneely on December 26th, 2008 at 3:21 pm

    By the way!  If you haven’t read this, do so.  It’s a thought provoking article as to why it can be productive, even wise, to feed some harmless nonsense to your kids every once in awhile.

  8. lneely on December 26th, 2008 at 3:22 pm

    Sorry, wrong link.  Here is the correct one.

  9. Joy on December 28th, 2008 at 7:24 pm

    Great link–thanks! It lead to more and more good ones, too.

  10. Elaine on January 22nd, 2009 at 6:12 pm

    <i>loved your comments. Just to let you know that I was one who was raised without believing in God or Santa Claus or the Easter Bunny…at appropriate ages, despite the fact that my Dad always told me the truth when I asked, “is there a santa claus?” I would believe whatever I wanted to believe and never “lost out” on that fantasy life that kids can so easily channel, BUT the fact is that he never lied to me and as I grew up, I so appreciated that. I raised my children in the same way. Kids are going to believe whatever they want to believe. You are not hurting them in any way by telling them the truth and for ensuring a trust in you that you will never lie to them.

  11. Atheist on March 8th, 2009 at 5:26 pm

    I wrote an article a couple of weeks ago pointing out the danger of allowing (or encouraging) our kids to believe in such things ( The Santa Scam).  My position was that Santa, specifically, is like religion “lite”, as it introduces concepts such as judgement, reward, punishment and superstition.  It’s a slippery slope and surely not the best way for our kids to start out in life.

    The responses from theists were predictable, accusing me of “hate” and removing joy from people’s lives.

  12. Rodin.Independent on March 13th, 2009 at 2:26 pm

    Using their magination, pretending, making up fantasy worlds, are great ways for kids to play and expand their aptitude for creative thinking.  It is wonderful to spend time with your children in imaginary play.
    Teaching your children that imaginary things are real, on the other hand, warps their little minds and destroys their ability to think critically.   It is in effect child abuse.

  13. Timotheus on April 6th, 2009 at 1:18 pm

    Teaching your children that imaginary things are real, on the other hand, warps their little minds and destroys their ability to think critically.   It is in effect child abuse.
    - – - – - – - – - 
    Did you child abusers teach your kids about man made global warming yet? 

  14. 40 Year Old Atheist on April 6th, 2009 at 1:21 pm

    Timotheus,

    I’ve seen your inane ramblings on other atheist blogs and you will get no audience here. I will delete every comment you post here. You are a troll. Move along. This is the last comment of yours that I will even read. Bye bye now, little troll.

  15. Timotheus on April 6th, 2009 at 3:47 pm

    You broke much quicker than the others.  What’s wrong with some harmless opposition?  Why can’t atheists take what they dish out?

  16. 40 Year Old Atheist on April 6th, 2009 at 4:15 pm

    A quick google is all I need to see your record, Timotheus. I used their experience to expedite my decision. Why would I subject my readers to your lunacy when I know all there is to know about you? Bye now.

  17. Rascaduanok on April 16th, 2009 at 3:42 pm

    I don’t think it’s just adults talking about tooth fairies and so on that leads children into a superstitious world of paranormal phenomena and makes them ripe for religious conquest. Think about it: little babies and children cry out, and all of a sudden the magic and soothing father/mother figure appears from nowhere to make everything all right, feed the baby, clean the baby, see to the baby’s every need… Just interacting with a child like that will make it susceptible to the ‘paranormal’. And there’s nothing we can do about it in that respect!

  18. Doug on April 23rd, 2009 at 12:04 pm

    Kids will invent the supernatural without outside influence. I’m sorry, but I, too am a hairs breath from 40, but I can recall the mushy mindset before critical though set in.  No one told me there were monsters….I saw things an misinterpreted them as dangerous unknowns in the dark. I kind of think it is a little evolution going on there,  movement in the dark=dangerous animal thing is likely a survival instinct when we were prot-homids, if a tad ludicrous now.

    I can recall distinctly the electric fire snakes that lived in the walls. I can to that conclusion after seeing the reflection of gas jet being ignited on the shiny sheet metal ash pan of the furnace. And when the furnace turned on there would be sounds of movement in the walls! Sure I know now that It was the ducts sheet metal expanding as it heated, but try telling that to the me of 5 years old.

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