I do have a small amount of sympathy with the vicar who has caused uproar in Chippenham after breaking the news to a group of primary school pupils that Father Christmas doesn't really exist and was based on the legend of Saint Nicholas.
One angry parent said: 'We wouldn't just walk into the church during one of his services and tell everyone there that Jesus isn't real, it's not his place to tell the children that'.
Other parents have their children out of a Christmas concert at the church in protest.
Canon Tatton-Brown's slip came as he delivered his annual festive address to pupils but his equipment broke down and he had to make it up on the spot and decided that the story of Saint Nicholas would do the trick and launched into the story of how Father Christmas was based on the gift giving Saint Nicholas.
It was when kids started crying that he realised what he had done and issued an apology to parents stating that he was very sorry to hear of the trouble following his assembly and he fully supported parents who want their young children to enjoy the Christmas stories, including Father Christmas, and he had no intention of undermining their belief in the reality of Santa Claus'.
It does seem it was an error by the vicar but not done with any maliciousness and he misjudged his audience, especially if he had to make it up on the sour of the moment.
That said, it's another example of how religion and Christmas are bizarrely becoming disentangled.
2 comments:
You gotta be cruel to be kind. They're going to find out he's made-up sooner or later.
Now we just need someone to wander into the good vicar's church and do a similar trick!...
If they can't be persuaded by common sense can't see them ever being persuaded their man in the clouds is fiction.
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