Why Don't Grownups Believe in Santa Claus?

[Purple Knight]

Question for Debate: Why don't grownups believe in Santa Claus?

Is it because of evidence, or would they just reach a certain point and stop believing anyway, even without evidence?

If they would reach that point without direct evidence, that actually does not bode well for the traditional atheist analogy that belief in religion should be discarded in the same way, because people aren't reaching this point where they no longer believe in Santa Claus based on evidence - they're reaching it simply because they grow up. That does not make the child wrong and the adult, right; it just makes the adult better at surviving.

I've noticed that most people in the modern world are walking around so incredulous that if they were poofed away to Narnia, they would find ways to explain it so that they were still in the real world, animals didn't talk, magic wasn't real, and everything made that sort of dull, drudgery-ridden grownup sense that they're accustomed to being fed, like gruel you've eaten for so long that like a cat, you turn your nose up at anything else. The cat does that so it doesn't get poisoned. It's been alive until now, so the best bet is to keep eating what it's been eating, not trying anything new. And the grownup does that so it doesn't get scammed or duped. It's necessary - a defence mechanism. It helps the organism not die. But that doesn't mean it's evidence-based or logic-wrought.

As the modern world becomes more and more scammy, as capitalists find more and more ways to invent loopholes, manipulate agreements, and legally deceive so they can take without giving and pretend their victim agreed to it, and as the law continues to support them doing that, perhaps people's natural incredulity is simply getting ramped-up because it really is a defence mechanism. That could be the reason there are more atheists. And it works. The churches don't get their money and even if you believe God is real, we all know that many of those churches are simply money mills.

This is backwards to the way religion is thought of by atheists as being for survival and probably not true, while atheism doesn't exactly help anybody, but is more likely to be actually true. But as the world turns upside-down, perhaps we all naturally fall off the ceiling and onto the floor.

[benchwarmer]

[Replying to Purple Knight in post #1]

Grownups likely don't believe in Santa Claus because they have direct evidence that he is not delivering Christmas presents as advertised.

My own case: I discovered the "From Santa" presents in my parents room before Christmas. Yes, I was a bad person and snooped in my parent's room. I paid the price by losing a belief. Evidence overrode previously held beliefs in a jolly fellow delivering presents to everyone.

Now, to be fair, there might very well be a Santa Claus, but for some reason every parent has to provide presents on his behalf. Maybe his sleigh was broken at some point and unrepairable? Maybe the reindeer have been on strike for some time?

It's very similar to religion. Many atheists were once believers and later discovered convincing evidence that it was a fairy tale just like Santa Claus. There may very well be a god or gods, but the materials presented don't hold water on closer inspection. Man made religions abound and have for thousands of years. Yet some people believe their religion is 'special' and 'correct' based on ... well nothing but faith, indoctrination, and/or bad apologetics.

[Purple Knight]

[Replying to benchwarmer in post #2]

But is that the only reason? We don't know if there is a Santa Claus or not, but unlike with religion, the accepted answer is that there isn't one, even though, as you point out, there very well could be.

I don't know if I buy that every last person who comes to the accepted answer, that there is not a Santa Claus, comes to it by either being told or discovering the deception.

[1213]

Question for Debate: Why don't grownups believe in Santa Claus?

Is it because of evidence, or would they just reach a certain point and stop believing anyway, even without evidence?
...

Stop believing? You can find him from here:
https://santaclausvillage.info/

If we are not talking about St. Nicholas, but the common commercialized Santa Claus, maybe the reason is that no one is seriously claiming he is a real thing. Everybody knows it is just a story and not even the storytellers think or mean that he is real. Also, in the case of Santa, we could check are the stories true and find him. And if we don't find him, it is easy to say he is not real.

[Purple Knight]

If we are not talking about St. Nicholas, but the common commercialized Santa Claus, maybe the reason is that no one is seriously claiming he is a real thing. Everybody knows it is just a story and not even the storytellers think or mean that he is real. Also, in the case of Santa, we could check are the stories true and find him. And if we don't find him, it is easy to say he is not real.

Emphasis added. People seriously tell their children that Santa Claus is real. Then those children find out he isn't. Well, they supposedly do. I'm not convinced that any of them have been to the North Pole and seen that he wasn't there.

[1213]

If we are not talking about St. Nicholas, but the common commercialized Santa Claus, maybe the reason is that no one is seriously claiming he is a real thing. Everybody knows it is just a story and not even the storytellers think or mean that he is real. Also, in the case of Santa, we could check are the stories true and find him. And if we don't find him, it is easy to say he is not real.

Emphasis added. People seriously tell their children that Santa Claus is real. Then those children find out he isn't. Well, they supposedly do. I'm not convinced that any of them have been to the North Pole and seen that he wasn't there.

Ok, maybe everyone doesn't know. And it can be true that people seriously tell the story. However, I don't think any of them thinks the story is true. And that I think is one difference. The main difference i think is that it is relatively easy to check is the story true.

[Purple Knight]

Ok, maybe everyone doesn't know. And it can be true that people seriously tell the story. However, I don't think any of them thinks the story is true. And that I think is one difference. The main difference i think is that it is relatively easy to check is the story true.

How would you check? Do you think it's possible that normal people check by simply waiting to see Santa Claus and when it never happens, they slowly get to know that he is less and less likely until it is near impossible he exists?

[brunumb]

Now, to be fair, there might very well be a Santa Claus, but for some reason every parent has to provide presents on his behalf.

Santa works in mysterious ways.

[1213]

Ok, maybe everyone doesn't know. And it can be true that people seriously tell the story. However, I don't think any of them thinks the story is true. And that I think is one difference. The main difference i think is that it is relatively easy to check is the story true.

How would you check? ...

To check, one must obviously first know what to check. It is necessary to learn first what is said about Santa and how he is defined. Then one can know how to check is the story true. And it is said that Santa lives in Santaclausvillage. So naturally one goes then there to see is it true.

https://santaclausvillage.info/

[Purple Knight]

Ok, maybe everyone doesn't know. And it can be true that people seriously tell the story. However, I don't think any of them thinks the story is true. And that I think is one difference. The main difference i think is that it is relatively easy to check is the story true.

How would you check? ...

To check, one must obviously first know what to check. It is necessary to learn first what is said about Santa and how he is defined. Then one can know how to check is the story true. And it is said that Santa lives in Santaclausvillage. So naturally one goes then there to see is it true.

https://santaclausvillage.info/

Well you would have to go to the North Pole, where it is said that Santa lives. I don't think many of the kids who stop believing have ever been to the North Pole and seen that Santa's house is absent.