Yea, Santa is the more secular icon. There are even Christians that take issue with the Santa character (which is a combination of "Pagan" and Christian mythos). I put Pagan in quotes, as that's a Christian term for certain non-Christian beliefs.

[–] riskable@programming.dev 19 points 13 hours ago (2 children)

Santa is a stand-in for Jesus... for children. They're both magical beings that can perform miracles and have similar methods: Both Santa and Jesus have naughty lists and forms of punishment that come later; much later (both are equivalent lengths of time to a child though 🤣). Both bring "gifts". Both have traditional appearances. Both have followers that wear silly hats and strange clothes. But most importantly...

Both are imaginary.

If you believe in Santa as an adult you're ridiculed. If you believe in Jesus as an adult you're just labeled, "Christian". Yet the fact that nearly every child eventually finds out Santa isn't real is quite disturbing to a lot of Christians. After all, if they could stop believing in Santa--who is so similar to Jesus in every way--then they could stop believing in Jesus.

[–] P4ulin_Kbana@lemmy.eco.br 1 points 16 minutes ago

You might not believe about what the Bible says about Jesus, but historically, there was at some point a person named Jesus. Whether or not he was like the Bible describes is another story. /lh

[–] Semi_Hemi_Demigod@lemmy.world 26 points 13 hours ago (1 children)

You have to start off believing the little lies like the Hogfather before you can believe in the big lies like justice

[–] 0x0@programming.dev 1 points 1 hour ago

You mean turtles don't hold the world?

[–] puchaczyk@lemmy.blahaj.zone 11 points 13 hours ago (2 children)

Santa is based on Saint Nicholas of Myra, so he definitely has something to do with Christianity.

[–] Aatube@kbin.melroy.org 12 points 12 hours ago

The modern depiction of Santa is based on Coca-Cola.

[–] ChicoSuave@lemmy.world 11 points 12 hours ago

"Based on" and what people associate with now are vastly different. Most people don't even know if Saint Nick is based on a real person.

[–] TeamAssimilation@infosec.pub 6 points 13 hours ago* (last edited 13 hours ago) (1 children)

Besides both being fairy tales, I would say it's even anti religious, since religious Christmas clashes with it, yet he doesn't bring gifts to baby Jesus. He brings commercial toys to all the other children.

[–] Nougat@fedia.io 11 points 13 hours ago

Not to the poor children.