Posted on 06/06/2014 3:33:04 AM PDT by markomalley
Fairy tales and believing in Father Christmas could cause children harm.
This is according to controversial biologist Richard Dawkins who warned an audience at the Cheltenham Science Festival about the dangers of make-believe.
In typically incendiary style, Dawkins suggested it was 'pernicious to instil in a child the view that the world is shaped by supernaturalism.'
The 73-year-old acknowledged that the appeal of fairytales lay in their magic but believes they may be causing more harm than we think.
He also questioned whether we should let children believe in the myth of Father Christmas at all.
'Is it a good thing to go along with the fantasy of childhood?,' he said. 'Or should we be fostering a spirit of scepticism?.'
Speaking about his autobiography ‘An Appetite for Wonder’, childhood formed a large part of the talk as he recalled his first eight years growing up in Africa.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
Then hopefully you never read them fairy tales or took them to see movies about princesses and talking cars.
Children's imaginations are limitless and Santa brings them happiness. I told my kids when the time came that Santa teaches a valuable lesson of giving anonymously. Instead of parents having their kids suck up to get presents then have to be grateful to parents for their presents, they have Santa who gives freely and asks nothing in return.
Just as Jesus gave all and asked nothing in return.
It’s not falsehood to talk about false teachers and prophets, just look at Joel Osteen for example, I call out false teachers wherever I find them. Of coure I’m just an ol ex infanteer and my diplomacy skills are probably lacking. I just say it like I see it, when compared against God’s word.
That said, a lot of Catholics I know are Christians. They call themselves Catholics due to the history of that particular church or something, but they don’t follow the edicts of Rome.
True RC theology flies in the face of reason and the bible.
We’re done here
Ok, I’m sorry if I’ve offended, it’s not my intention.
I just fear time is short in our society today given how I see how far things have fallen, and I try to get the word out.
I hope you have a great day and a good weekend. I’m praying God brings us better times still.
Wrong. Fairy tails are known to be lies when children watch them. Santa Claus, on the other hand, is a deception in which the parent tries to convince a child that a lie is true. When the truth becomes clear then it will hurt that child’s ability to accept Jesus as he/she may erroneous bundle Santa and Jesus into the “lies” basket. Why teach a lie as true? Whoever leads a little one to sin would be better off with a millstone around their neck and thrown to sea.
I don’t know how you raised your kids but I never read Peter Pan then said, “You know he’s not real, right?”
And we don’t “lie” to our kids about Santa Clause, we engage in their make-believe. It would be a cold-assed world if our kids could never imagine and make believe. So don’t let yourself off the hook for fairy tales because at the age they hear them, they believe them.
“’Is it a good thing to go along with the fantasy of childhood?,’ he said. ‘Or should we be fostering a spirit of scepticism?.’”
What Dawkins is talking about isn’t skepticism, it’s cynicism.”
What a bitter old man he must be.
Yes, but as you say, the material captures the imagination, not your sense of logic or rationality. An appeal to a sense of wonder is not an appeal to rational examination, or logical deduction. It is an appeal to the more emotive parts of your being. Your soul if you like.
Trust me on this, as the oldest of five kids, the father of two and the grandfather of 6. There are no deep seated, or shallow seated for that matter, feelings of being lied to resulting from dressing up as Sanat Claus and putting some gifts under the tree while the little ones look on in wonderment.
I think they should show what muzzies do on a regular basis to thier children, wives and those who deny Allah
We never lied to our children or grandchildren about Santa. Mostly, I think it’s harmless, but I do wonder why it is our two great Christian holidays are taken over by a bunny and a fat guy in a red suit. That said, we let it slide if one of our kids picked up Santa or the Easter Bunny on his own. That is, we never corrected them and just let them figure it out on their own. However, we never would have let our two adopted kids believe in Santa - it would have damaged the trust building that is needed for the attachment process. In their eyes, I’m certain they’d have seen it as a violation.
\A very good overview of our Orthodox view of St. Nicholas is at
http://www.stjohndc.org/Russian/saints/SaintsE/e_9912c.htm
We were raised being told about St. Nicholas and never had to figure out anything to the contrary.
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