Elf on the Shelf Pushing Christ out of Christmas?

Elf on the Shelf, the Christmas fairy tale juggernaut that has generated more than $10 million in sales, is taking on Santa in terms of prominence during the holiday season — and worrying devout parents nationwide, who say it’s one more secular activity pushing the birth of Christ out of Christmas.

“Everyone does Elf on the Shelf; it’s now like Santa. I can’t comprehend it,” said Amanda White, the author of “Truth in Tinsel,” an Advent and activity book for children. “I wanted Christmas to be about Jesus. Jesus is the magical part — the story about him is magical, so miraculous, we need him to be the center of our celebration. Not that you can’t do some of those other things, they’re just not real.”

The elf is the brainchild of Carol Aebersold and Chanda Bell, a mother and daughter who wrote “The Elf on the Shelf: A Christmas tradition” a decade ago. In their mythology, the elf is a “scout” for Santa Claus, observing children during the day and reporting back to the North Pole at night so Saint Nick can compile his naughty-and-nice list.

Children are told the poseable red-and-white figure is to remain unmolested so it can observe the goings-on.

The eerie surveillance role the elf plays, and the heightened devotion it gives to Santa’s presents, have some evangelicals rejecting the concept altogether.

“I believe in grace too much to let Christmas be reduced to a monthlong disciplinary tactic,” Lee Hull Moses wrote in “The Christian Century,” explaining why there was no elf on his shelf in December. “The point of Christmas — at least the version I believe in — is not that we behave well. It’s that we’re not always all that nice, and God sends us the greatest gift anyway.”

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