Christian pastor David Grisham Jr. hates the idea of Santa Claus so much, in 2010 he made a video showing a firing squad executing Saint Nick.
What’s Santa’s crime in Grisham’s eyes? He takes too much attention away from Jesus.
According to the Friendly Atheist, Grisham was careful to point out that the video was all in good fun. But spreading his anti-Santa message is serious business to Grisham, who recently stormed a local mall to tell the bad news to kids.
In a video documenting his mission, Grisham films himself walking through a mall in Amarillo, Texas:
“…and we’re going to tell the children here today the truth, that there is no Santa Claus and Christmas is about Jesus Christ,” Grisham says.
He soon comes upon a group of parents and their kids waiting in line to see Santa.
“Folks, my name is Pastor David,” he says to the unsuspecting group of people. “Kids, I want to tell you today that there is no such thing as Santa Claus. Santa Claus does not exist.”
“The Christmas season is about Jesus!”
A little after two minutes into the video, parents confront Grisham and asks him to leave. The encounter prompted Grisham to post the video to his Facebook page with claim that he was “assaulted” while trying to deliver his message. There’s no evidence that Grisham was assaulted in any way.
From Hermant Mehta of the Friendly Atheist:
Grisham is essentially encouraging parents to substitute one myth for another… but that’s a decision the parents should be able to make for themselves. While plenty of atheists would take issue with religious indoctrination — in part, because it’s meant to last a lifetime — most atheists have no problem telling kids about Santa because there’s an expectation they’ll grow out of it. There’s joy in (temporarily) letting them believe the story and spirit of the holidays… and there’s also joy in seeing children work out the logic behind why Santa Claus doesn’t exist.
Watch the video below:
Featured image via YouTube
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