Santa Claus - the Gateway Drug

It's 5 months until Christmas but I wanted to get this out now: I think one of the reasons that Bill O'Reilly and the other fundies have taken this so-called "war on Christmas" so much to heart is that teaching kids to believe in Santa Claus makes it easier for them to then believe in their god. I mean here we have two white, bearded guys who supposedly know when we are good or bad and reward us for being good and punish us (at least by not leaving presents or leaving coal in the stockings) for being bad. With Santa the reward is immediate with lots of presents at Christmastime while children have to take it more on faith that if they're good they'll go to heaven but the idea has been planted for further cultivation. Another reason for their insistence that Christmas not be interfered with is that our capitalist economy is geared to big spending at this time of year. The news goes on and on about whether we are spending more or less than previous years as it allegedly demonstrates how robust our economy is but it really is less important than we are led to believe. Yes stores want to sell lots of stuff to us during the season but, in order to do that, they have to hire more people and spend more for wages, security, insurance etc. and then the day after Christmas the returns start coming in. We seem to be worshiping Mammon at this time of year with all the buy, buy, buy, spend, spend, spend rather then observing the birth of a man who cared about the poor and the outcasts. Maybe the fundamentalists should try to get people to actually adhere to what was in the NT...see how far they'd get with that! Do we really need all this craziness? In fact this so-called war is bogus for reasons O'Reilly and company don't want us to think about as: 1. Nowhere in the New Testament is the date of the birth of Jesus mentioned; in fact in Luke it says the shepherds were watching their flocks by night which happens in the lambing season which is in the springtime. 2. In the early years of Christianity there was a rival religion - that of Mithras, son of the Persian sun god who was born on December 25th of a virgin, in a cave (which was often used as a stable in those days) and visited by magi...sound familiar? 3. December 25th was also the date of the Saturnalia, a major holiday way back then when good times were had by the Romans and others. 4. In 1582 there was a switchover from the Julian calendar to the current Gregorian which threw things off by 10 days which is why some churches celebrate Xmas in January 5. Those most pious of Christians, the Puritans, knowing how spurious it all was, actually made it against the law to celebrate Christmas. 6. Things like St. Nick/Santa Claus, mistletoe and Christmas trees have no basis in the New Testament. The latter two are remnants of pagan worship. We look in askance at any adults who still believe in Santa Claus, an imaginary being who rewards us for good behavior yet we don't do the same with adults who still believe in another imaginary being.