You don't have to be religious to think a fat dude in some red clothes that magically travels around the world giving out presents to good children isn't a fun yearly tradition. Frankly it's kind of an overdramatic reaction to a small red hat overlaid onto an icon. Should configuration be provided to disable the functionally? Sure I don't care, hell have it disabled by default I don't mind but it's stupid to make a huge stink about something so minor.