Critically Thinking About Christmas

Is secularization of our society a good thing?

As a minimum, Christmas day (and season) is a remembrance of the birth of Jesus Christ. (Note the “Christ” part of the word Christmas.) As an historical event, it is something that anyone of any faith (or even atheists) can choose to acknowledge and/or celebrate — just as anyone can acknowledge and appreciate the historical event associated with Hanukkah.

Why Christians would give such emphasis to that birth, is due to what Jesus Christ stood for. (Carefully read the New Testament for specifics.) The bottom line is that his message was one of love, acceptance and forgiveness. Shouldn't we all support that?

Centuries later, various related secondary religious traditions evolved in parallel with the birth of Jesus Christ remembrance. One is Saint Nicholas — now translated to what we in the US call Santa Claus. Another is the Christmas Tree, which also has some religious connotations (here is one version).

Regretfully, we live in times where secularization is all the rage, and religion (and the Bible) are out of vogue. Since humans instinctively want some moral code, this leads to such travesties as phony virtue signaling about such nonsensical items as industrial wind energy.

But since the Ten Commandments, the Sermon on the Mount, the Bible, etc. are old fashioned, here are three questions to ponder:

1 - Where is this new set of “moral standards” and “virtues” publicly posted? 

2 - Who has the credentials to create such an official list?

3 - Where does the authority come from to enforce adherence to such standards?

One excuse for this secularization is the assertion that some people espousing Religions have a long history of going off the rails.

We need to be clear that when there are bad events associated with a religion, it is the people involved who are the problem, not the religion. For example, when some early Popes of the Catholic Church were evil men, that was not a reflection on Jesus Christ or His church, but on those individuals. (Similarly, when the US has Presidents who are self-serving, it is not a reflection on the Constitution, but on those people.)

An experience I had this month is one of many that puts this secularization of our society, including Christmas, into focus... Every year my wife and I mail (yes snail mail) Christmas cards to select friends and family. Every year we chose a Christmas card with a clear traditional birth of Jesus Christ theme. (We then usually add a wintry personal picture plus an informative few paragraphs about what’s up with us.)

This year I again went to where we have been buying such cards: Vista-Print (which is a large purveyor of a wide variety of products from business cards to wedding gifts). I started like I always do and selected: cards —> Christmas —> religious. Hmmm: all of the “religious cards” were sample photos of family members, Christmas trees, etc.

What struck me was that there was not a single card showing any type of nativity scene (i.e., the birth of Jesus Christ). In the past Vista-Print had multiple options of these. I then did a search for “Nativity” and nothing came up.

I decided to call the company and see if I was doing something wrong. I chatted with a pleasant customer service person. After much looking on her part she confirmed that Vista-Print was offering no Christmas cards with any type of nativity scene!!

As polite as I could be (not my forte), I strongly complained about this startling and unacceptable degradation of Christmas. She agreed with me, and suggested that I submit a request for Vista-Print to make up a “custom” card. She said it was a free service and it would be prompt.

I followed her directions, and submitted a request for a Christmas card with a nativity scene on it. (IMO it’s mind-boggling that I would have to do this.) Sure enough by the next day I was emailed two different nativity scene Christmas cards to use, and I did pick one. I’m sure in Vista-Print’s files that they have over a hundred nativity scenes to use on Christmas cards, but that they chose zero (for the first time) in 2022, is disturbing.

As a scientist I’m a curious person (take that any way you like), so I decided to see if Vista-Print was an aberration or the norm. For comparison I decided to check out Walmart’s photo options, since they are another major seller of Christmas cards. I looked through their online site to see how many nativity scene Christmas cards that they were offering, and again I found none…

My closing Christmas thought is this...

Since we are experiencing unprecedented threats to our personal freedoms and lives, maybe we ought to re-think our commitment to God. As Americans’ participation with Religion has steadily gone downhill, the evil and incompetence we are seeing on a daily basis has steadily increased. Draw your own critical thinking conclusions, but IMO that correlation is not a coincidence.

In summary: Jesus is the Reason for the Season.

If you like short video musicals, then please watch this spot-on video.

I hope that you and your family have a happy, holy Christmas!

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Here are other materials by this scientist that you might find interesting:

WiseEnergy.org: discusses the science (or lack thereof) behind our energy options.

C19Science.info: covers the lack of genuine science behind our COVID-19 policies.

Election-Integrity.info: multiple major reports on the election integrity issue.

Media Balance Newsletter: a free, twice-a-month newsletter that covers what the mainstream media does not, on issues from: COVID to climate, elections to education, renewables to religion, etc. Here are the Newsletter’s 2022 Archives. Send me an email to get your free copy. When emailing me, please make sure to include your full name, and the state where you live. (Of course, you can cancel the Media Balance Newsletter at any time — but why would you?)

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