This is a long video, but I think it’s worth the watch. Someone sent it to me recently and said, “I love his voice.” And now that I’ve listened, I can say, “Me, too.”
But this scratched an itch, both intellectually and ethically, that I didn’t even know I had.
Hanan Browning starts by referencing a previous video in which he made the argument that one day, archaeologists will dig through the materials we leave behind and conclude that Santa is an American god. But in this video, he takes the idea further.
“I’ve got news for you: Santa is one of our gods.”
He adds, “Religions don’t always require belief; they require that you participate.”
And then here’s the part that has really stuck with me: He argues that Santa is a god for whom we’ll allow people to suspend belief as they age, but we’ll encourage — if not require — them to keep the practices.
He says that modern Christianity in the United States is functioning in the opposite way. Among many, it is intolerable for a Christian to suspend belief — or, I’d add, to change how they believe — but among many, it has become completely acceptable to abandon the practices.
Obviously, that’s not true for every person or every circle of Christians. But if you abandon the practices — and I’d add, the ethics — how aligned are you with the religion you claim?
Smuggling Grace 