Santa-ism

Santa-ism, what is that? No, I'm not going to talk about the jolly old elf, and, I hate to break this to some of you but, he isn't actually real. I'm actually going to be posting some stuff from my camp notebook. Why? Well, I've seen this worldview displayed in many places. I think this is an especially damaging one. Why? Because it claims to be Christian, but is it really? Read on and find out!

Although Socrates warned centuries ago that the unexamined life is not worth living, many people today live according to an unexamined worldview. Roughly described, this is the worldview of "God is Santa"
Especially prevalent in America today, Santa-ism relies on the vague belief that some god-like being created us and loves us, and doesn't care at all how we behave as long as we don't hurt each other. Adherents to this worldview don't worry about truth or morality, because this grandfather god likes us and wants everyone to spend eternity playing harps with him in heaven.
Proof that Americans adhere to this worldview is demonstrated by recent Gallup polls. More than 80% of Americans claim to believe in a god, but only 38% believe the Bible is the Word of God. The majority of American theists that deny the inerrancy of scripture adhere to the Santa-ist worldview-rejecting the deity of Christ, the need for a Savior, and the existence of hell. They believe that someone must have created the universe, but he would never judge his creation.
In many ways, Santa-ism is an offshoot of deism. Deists believe that some mystical "First Cause" set the universe in motion, and then abandoned man. Since man has been left to follow his own devices, he need not fear judgment.
This "God leaves us alone until we pray when we need a gift" mentality is necessarily hazy, because it doesn't stand up to close scrutiny. Still, we can begin with the Santa-ist's assumptions about god and logically derive their seven foundations.

The Seven Foundations:

Nature of man: Man is basically good. Sometimes he does bad things, but only because his environment stifles his good impulses.

Nature of God: Somewhere up in heaven, far, far away, lives a jovial grandfather god with a long beard. He likes us, and he likes it when we ask him for things.

The Universe: God created matter about 15 billion years ago, and then used evolution to create everything else

Truth: We can discover truth within ourselves, and god likes it when we try to get in touch with our truth.

Morality: If it feels good, do it-as long as it doesn't hurt anyone else too much.

Family: God doesn't want us to be unhappy so if we find ourselves in a bad family situation, or we want to try other things, that's okay with him. Whatever makes us happy

Politics: God just wants everyone to have as much as they can, so the politician who promises the most for everyone is the best choice. Things like the bankruptcy of Social Security and the enormous national debt are not really a concern-god will fix them somehow, because he doesn't lie to see us suffer.