I Always Knew Santa Was Make-Believe: A Retired Pastor on Losing Her Faith

[NeoGreen]

http://religiondispatches.org/i-always-knew-santa-was-make-believe-a-retired-pastor-on-losing-her-faith/

I Always Knew Santa Was Make-Believe: A Retired Pastor on Losing Her Faith
I always knew Santa was make-believe. My parents taught me Jesus was the reason for the season, God’s free gift to all who believe in him. They never lied to me about anything, including Santa Claus.

A few years ago, I watched a little boy after a funeral. He seemed oblivious to the conversation occurring over his head until one grownup exclaimed: “I still believed in Santa Claus then!”

Beneath them, the child’s eyes and mouth popped open. Laughter riffled the air. He searched upward for his parents. But they were laughing and never met his startled gaze.

I recalled that boy’s alarm when my husband, Phil, and I tried to tell friends that our beliefs had changed.

“What beliefs?”

“God.” Startled silence. Jaws dropped, eyes wide.

“You can’t mean that,” one said.

Phil and I were ordained ministers. I had accepted Jesus as my Savior when I was four at the altar of a revival tent in New York’s Catskill Mountains. Growing up in those woods, I talked to Jesus—not an audible conversation so much as my heart’s constant refrain of love and gratitude. When we married in 1965, I called Phil my “second best friend.”

[CrispyQ]

1. "This truth makes our fleeting lives on planet Earth more precious than ever."

This. ^^^

[MineralMan]

2. A more common story than most people might think.

I've heard it before from people who were in the ministry, including some who continued in that profession, despite losing their faith. A guy's gotta eat, after all.

Thanks for sharing it.

[trotsky]

3. Happens so often, the Freedom From Religion Foundation has a group for them.

The Clergy Project
http://clergyproject.org/

[MineralMan]

4. Yes. Thanks for reminding me of that organization.

Their stories are all very interesting, indeed.

[Cartoonist]

5. A wise man

. . . we had begun to take comfort in the BBC documentaries of Sir David Attenborough, who thrilled us with the wonders of nature and never mentioned God.