December 22, 2008 | 9:37 am

So that’s why Darwin looks so much like Santa Claus

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

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Order of St. Nick's

Haven’t you ever wondered why Charles Darwin looks a lot like Santa Claus?

Me neither. Andrew Shaffer did, so last year he added to his atheist Christmas card catalog one of Darwin holding a bunch of presents under his arm. Inside the cards say “evolve your beliefs.” Business was brisk, the Agence France-Presse reports:

Sales of Darwin Claus outstripped sales of any other card Shaffer was marketing, leading him to think that “maybe there are atheists out there who want to send Christmas cards.”

So he started an entire line of cards for them.

The 30-year-old starving artist turned entrepreneur has also launched a line of “Depressing Times” cards, featuring images from the 1930s, when the United States grappled with the Great Depression, and humorous verse contrasting those very difficult times with today’s economic slump.

One of the cards shows a woman cutting cloth against a pattern and has the caption on the front: “I made you a present.”

Inside the card is the message: “But I had to burn it in a trashcan to stay warm—Have a Great Depression and a Happy New Year.”

Shaffer also has gay cards, often featuring the rainbow colors that have come to symbolize the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender communities.

Shaffer insists he did not create the cards to offend anyone or to scare small children, as the card that declares “The good news is that Santa is real” but “the bad news is that he’s dead” might do.

Cheery.

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