A close up of a christmas tree with ornaments

IS GOD JUST SANTA CLAUSE ?

The myth of childhood end, yet faith remains

Through the last two centuries, certain thinkers have argued that faith in God springs not from reality but from longing.

They claim that the heart invents what it wishes most deeply, clothing desire in the figure of an all-loving, all-wise Father who reigns above the heavens. Freud gave the idea its psychological edge, Nietzsche its cutting sneer, and modern voices like Richard Dawkins affirms it still. In their view, religion is a fantasy of the nursery, a final stage of wishful thinking that should fade as the mind matures. God, they say, is only a refined Santa Claus, a magnified Tooth Fairy, a dream preserved until reason finally dissolves it.

The argument sounds persuasive and the comparison seems clever. Children believe in Santa Claus or the Tooth Fairy until reason grows strong enough to dissolve the fantasy. In the same way, the critic argues, faith in God should disappear with age. Primitive societies, yearning for order in a chaotic world, invented the divine. The poor or uneducated, it is claimed, cling to this myth and pass it along to their children, slowing the march of true progress. At first glance, the argument appears tidy, even inevitable.

Yet the charge falters under closer thought. Childhood myths vanish when reality intrudes, but belief in God endures in adulthood, even among the most educated. Anthony Flew, one of Britain’s leading atheists, stunned the philosophical world when late in life he confessed that reason itself compelled him toward God. C. S. Lewis described his own conversion as a step into maturity, not away from it, seeing Christianity as the hard truth he could no longer ignore.

Scripture itself anticipates the charge. Paul wrote, “When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways” (1 Corinthians 13:11). Faith, then, is not clinging to childishness but entering into reality with the clarity of an adult mind.

Nor does Christianity present itself as the easy comfort that this charge assumes. If men had crafted a religion out of hunger for reassurance, they would have woven stories that glorify strength, conceal evil, and offer delight without consequence. The Scriptures do the opposite. They call us to love enemies, to give when taking would be easier, to serve the poor rather than exalt the powerful. They confront us with sin, holiness, judgment, and a cross. This is not the sweet confection of primitive imagination, but a piercing mirror to the human soul.

Christianity Is Not a Comfort Fantasy

If Christianity were a projection of human wishes, its message would look very different. It would exalt human greatness, dismiss evil, and offer comfort without cost. Instead, it tells us to love enemies, give when taking feels easier, and surrender self for the sake of others. It confronts us with the holiness of God and the reality of judgment. The cross stands as the most unthinkable truth—salvation through suffering, life through death. Such a vision is the opposite of what wishful thinking would invent.

Jesus Himself said:

“If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me” Mark 8:34

This is not the language of indulgent fantasy. It is the call to a reality deeper than comfort. History shows that Christian faith has never been mere nursery talk. Augustine wrestled with the longings of the human heart, Aquinas built a vast architecture of reason, Pascal probed the hidden misery and greatness of man, Newman and Chesterton gave voice to faith with literary brilliance, and Alvin Plantinga framed belief with philosophical precision. These were not children lost in illusion but men who faced truth with sober thought.

Turning the Argument Around

And what if projection runs both ways? R. C. Sproul once suggested that perhaps the atheist, too, harbors a wish—that God not exist, that there be no Judge, no final reckoning, no holy presence to whom the conscience must answer. If so, unbelief itself could be seen as wish-fulfillment, a projection of man’s longing to escape accountability.

“The fool says in his heart, ‘There is no God’” Psalm 14:1

In this light, the argument against faith becomes self-defeating.

Santa Claus vanishes with childhood because he was never real. Yet the reality of God endures across ages, cultures, and centuries. Faith is not the residue of infancy but the recognition of truth. The longing for God is not an illusion but a response to what creation itself proclaims.

“The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork” Psalm 19:1

What fades in the nursery cannot explain what endures in the soul. The God revealed in Christ is not a projection of man’s imagination but the Creator who shaped man’s very being. He is no childish fancy. He is the living Lord.