A New Take on Santa

Hi folks! Saw this on Slate (here's the link, FYI) and thought it was really interesting. Some questions it raised for me are: 1. Is he right about our everyday lives? 2. Is it important that we have a God who understands suffering? 3. Is Jesus the way he describes him? 4. Why does more orthodox Christianity seem so joyless sometimes?

"Subject: Santa uber Jesus
From: ElephantGun
Date: Dec 8 2004 3:51AM

I like Santa Claus a whole lot better than Jesus. I know that the figure of Santa is over-commercialized in the United States, but I also believe that the deification of Santa is one of the really good things about American society. At a time when our workaholism gives us all a lean, hungry, and cynical look, it's a wonderful relief to contemplate Santa's boundless generosity, bottomless well of happiness, and most pleasing plumpness. Santa's become even better over the last few decades as naughty/nice lists and the spectre of coal have faded into cultural memory. Likewise, Santa is one of the few white European figures who translates easily into other cultures. In our pale-faced household, we used to have a black "Rocking Santa" figure who sang a song in Peggy Lee's voice. Multi-racial, transgendered--Santa makes for an extremely flexible symbol of a giving spirit that demands nothing in return. Now we have a "Saxophone Santa" and the Christmas season doesn't really get under way until he belts out a couple versions of "Jingle Bells." .

To the contrary, I really don't understand the appeal of Jesus story. Although I had a half-hearted Christian raising, the Jesus story seems increasingly less attractive and plausible as the years go by. Where Santa is a carnivalesque figure of fun, merriment, consumption, and over-consumption, Jesus strikes me as an essentially Lenten God of suffering, self-denial, and other-worldliness. Given the unhappy, over-extended character of so much of our lives in the United States, I can understand why we identify so much with Jesus. I mean how many of us chronically feel like we're bearing our own cross. However, just like I often hope for a better society, I often hope for a better god--a god who represents a joy that does not first have to walk through the valley of the shadow of death."