{"id":6671,"date":"2013-12-20T13:20:00","date_gmt":"2013-12-20T19:20:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.edgewiseblog.com\/mjh\/?p=6671"},"modified":"2013-12-20T10:51:45","modified_gmt":"2013-12-20T16:51:45","slug":"myth-religion-and-the-long-con","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.edgewiseblog.com\/mjh\/the-atheists-pulpit\/myth-religion-and-the-long-con\/","title":{"rendered":"Myth, religion, and the long con"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Yes, the \u201ccontroversy\u201d over Santa\u2019s race is absurd. (Spoiler: He doesn\u2019t exist.) However, it brings us to the edge of an important awareness: all belief systems depend on keeping people in line and obedient. Someone tells you \u201cthe truth\u201d and that you will suffer if you don\u2019t believe their \u201ctruth.\u201d It\u2019s all nonsense. Believe what you will. Happy Solstice!<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.wsbtv.com\/ap\/ap\/us\/in-diverse-us-santa-claus-has-many-faces-races\/ncQT4\/\">In diverse US, Santa Claus has many faces, races | www.wsbtv.com<\/a> <\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/media.cmgdigital.com\/shared\/lt\/lt_cache\/thumbnail\/960\/img\/photos\/2013\/12\/20\/79\/05\/57b0a99c84b447c3a944f8f8a2aae6f6-737de4257025460a85be23ca01c49988-6.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" title=\"In diverse US, Santa Claus has many faces, races\" alt=\"In diverse US, Santa Claus has many faces, races photo\" src=\"http:\/\/media.cmgdigital.com\/shared\/lt\/lt_cache\/thumbnail\/188\/img\/photos\/2013\/12\/20\/79\/05\/57b0a99c84b447c3a944f8f8a2aae6f6-737de4257025460a85be23ca01c49988-6.jpg\" width=\"188\" height=\"264\"\/><\/a> <\/p>\n<p>Pancho Claus, portrayed by Richard Reyes, sings &#8220;Feliz Navidad&#8221; at a charity holiday event Saturday, Dec. 14, 2013, in Houston. Reyes, took on the role in the early 80&#8217;s after his teenage sister was killed in a drive-by shooting. (AP Photo\/Pat Sullivan) <\/p>\n<p>By RUSSELL CONTRERAS The Associated Press  <\/p>\n<p>ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. \u2014 In Atlanta, children of many races share their Christmas wish lists with a black Santa Claus. <\/p>\n<p>In Houston, Santa dons a red zoot suit and dances to jazz as he hands out gifts in Mexican-American neighborhoods. <\/p>\n<p>In Indian Country, Native American Santas add American Indian attire to their red snowsuits\u2026.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.wsbtv.com\">In diverse US, Santa Claus has many faces, races | www.wsbtv.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Yes, the \u201ccontroversy\u201d over Santa\u2019s race is absurd. (Spoiler: He doesn\u2019t exist.) However, it brings us to the edge of an important awareness: all belief systems depend on keeping people in line and obedient. Someone tells you \u201cthe truth\u201d and that you will suffer if you don\u2019t believe their \u201ctruth.\u201d It\u2019s all nonsense. Believe what &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.edgewiseblog.com\/mjh\/the-atheists-pulpit\/myth-religion-and-the-long-con\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Myth, religion, and the long con<\/span> <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6671","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-the-atheists-pulpit"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.edgewiseblog.com\/mjh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6671","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.edgewiseblog.com\/mjh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.edgewiseblog.com\/mjh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.edgewiseblog.com\/mjh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.edgewiseblog.com\/mjh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6671"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.edgewiseblog.com\/mjh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6671\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6672,"href":"https:\/\/www.edgewiseblog.com\/mjh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6671\/revisions\/6672"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.edgewiseblog.com\/mjh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6671"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.edgewiseblog.com\/mjh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6671"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.edgewiseblog.com\/mjh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6671"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}