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Why I’m Not Quite Sold on ‘Black Santa’

By A. E. Brooks-Key

…s, and so on, doesn’t change the racial hierarchy. We never refer to white Santa as “white Santa,” he’s just Santa Claus. Because of anti-black racism, Black Santa isn’t simply Santa Claus, but “Black Santa,” an inferior or imitation version. When some Black parents (or as Heather Tirado Gilligan experienced in “I’m Dreaming Of A Less White Christmas For My Child of Color”) insist on a Black Santa their perceptive children quickly retort “Santa is…

Lying about Santa: The Irrelevance of Proof to the Holiday Spirit

By Nathan Schneider

…tian world have their own respective versions. Even if you do believe in a Santa, how can you be sure that your Santa is the right one? Unfortunately, this only helps the cause of the Pagan Throwback Santa that a liberal-minded person might like the idea of but would hardly take the time out of a busy day to appropriately placate. Things certainly don’t look good for the Santa familiar to most of us, the jolly old chap who dresses like Pope Benedi…

Death Couture: Not For Halloween Only

By Stephen Andes

…gh the agency of her narco-devotees. Local Religion, Globalization, and La Santa Muerte Although the origins of La Santa Muerte developed locally and unrelated to criminality, there is no doubt that the devotion is changing. Like language, symbols as objects of devotion are constantly in flux. Images that once helped to ease the fear of death have now come to embody that fear on both sides of the border. As savvy marketers, drug cartels have appro…

Religion in Real Time on CNN’s “Believer”: A Conversation with Reza Aslan

By Kaya Oakes

…volve to changing times. Part of why Catholicism is stagnant in Mexico and Santa Muerte is ascendant is that Santa Muerte has the ability to respond to the changing needs of Mexicans in an instant, whereas Catholicism doesn’t. Santa Muerte is a little speedboat and Catholicism is an ocean liner—it takes about a day for an ocean liner to make a left turn, whereas in that time Santa Muerte’s already done three or four circles. I spent two years rese…

The Creepy Surveillance of Elf on a Shelf

By Kelly J. Baker

…nce program. Somebody is surely watching us, but it is the government, not Santa. Santa and elves fit into our current moment of surveillance and data mining. The classic song “Santa Claus is Coming to Town” illustrates how. Santa is an omnipresent figure who watches children both day and night. “He knows when you are sleeping/He knows when you’re awake.” He emerges as benevolent, only if you weren’t naughty. Be good, the song chides us, be good….

Mexico’s Own Satanic Panic

By Joseph Laycock

…religious movement. State police took this a step further by referring to Santa Muerte as a “Satanic sect.” (Devotees of Santa Muerte are not Satanists and many consider themselves to be Catholic.) Finally, an Associated Press article has compared these murders to those committed by Adolfo de Jesus Constanzo, a cartel leader who practiced a variety of esoteric traditions. In 1989 a number of bodies were discovered at Constanzo’s ranch in Matamor…

Mexico’s War on Saint Death

By Joseph Laycock

…) invoking her aid. Police in Oaxaca purchase packets containing “dust” of Santa Muerta to hang in their cars. Many devotees consider themselves Catholic and regard Santa Muerte as simply another saint, comparable to the Virgin of Guadalupe. But Cardinal Norberto Rivera Carrera, the Archbishop of Mexico, has called devotion to Santa Muerte a heresy that “ensnares” Catholics. Last year, the Archdiocese of Mexico City released a statement declaring…

Santa Executed by Repent Amarillo

By Candace Chellew-Hodge

…lks at Repent Amarillo, the “Special Forces of spiritual warfare,” who put Santa before a firing squad. In a video by the outfit (who, by the way, “abhor violence”) Santa’s list of “heinous crimes against the Lord our God” are read out before the execution. Among them “idolatry” for replacing himself with Jesus Christ, and for being a “stumbling block to parents who lie to their children that you exist to bring them gifts.” Then, before the violen…

Santa Claus Will Take You To Hell

By Candace Chellew-Hodge

…rom Religion. Westboro’s sign rewrites the lyrics to popular holiday tune “Santa Claus is Coming To Town” to proclaim instead that belief in Santa Claus is responsible for the faltering economy and soldiers’ deaths. If you haven’t had a meal recently, you might take a gander at some of the lyrics the creative brain trust at Westboro has cooked up, like: Don’t leave your kids with this red fright Just like the priests, he’ll rape ’em at night Oh, S…

Pricey Tickets, Cranky Citizens, and Priests Behind Bars as Philadelphia Prepares For Papal Visit

By Anthea Butler

…to continue to shrink into the insularity and disorganization that caused the Philadelphia Archdiocese to decline so precipitously? It remains to be seen. Meanwhile, faithful Catholics and others who want to see the Pope may be losing heart. 10,000 tickets for the Pope’s Speech at Independence Mall sold out in two minutes on Tuesday, with 394k people trying their best to get a few. Tickets are already being scalped at $100 and up on craigslist. I…