Your statement appears to express the conclusion that a child who believes in Santa Claus, the Tooth Fairy, the Easter Bunny, and The Great Pumpkin (did not know Linus proselytized) leads to atheism. I will have to disagree.
The aforementioned childhood characters cease to exist when a child learns it has been the parents all along. Consider this; parents can never fulfill the promise of Jesus Christ (forgiveness of sins and eternal life). If parents cannot meet the promise of Christ, how does believing in any childhood character leads to atheism? Atheism is rebellion against God, not the fault of Santa Claus, the Tooth Fairy, the Easter Bunny, or The Great Pumpkin. Not all children that grew-up with believing in these characters are atheists as adults.
Christian parents grounded on the Bible should have little difficulty in having their children first understand and later have faith in Christ after exposing their children to the aforementioned characters. I do not have empirical evidence to convince analytical minds yet have the witness of my Bride’s and my own family’s multiple generations as well as those families of the many Christian churches I have been a member of throughout my many years of moving while in the Service.
There is something about the innocence of childhood which needs to be preserved until their minds and hearts are ready to deal with the cold hard realities of life. A parent’s love to a child demonstrated via gifts from a mythical second party is harmless in my mind. Particularly when the child learns it was a selfless act from their parent.
Regards.
Satan is the father of lies, and you are saying that lying to your children is a good thing. OK then.