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The spirit of Christmas doesn’t have to be Christian | Julian Baggini

You needn’t take the Gospels as gospel: sharing in a collective celebration can be more important than what is being shared

I once had a Taiwanese student who was about to spend his first Christmas in a culturally Christian country. In Taiwan, Buddhism and Taoism are the two main religions, so all Christmas meant to him was Santa and presents. I tried to explain the rudiments of the Bible story. I had never seen him laugh so much. He clearly had not yet learned the western tradition of showing sombre respect for people’s religious beliefs. But you could hardly blame him for finding the whole tale ludicrous: God sending his son to die for the sins of humanity, a virgin birth, magi following a star, angels appearing to shepherds. Even those too polite to laugh out loud would surely have an inward chuckle at the credulity of their fellow humans.

Had you been on the receiving end of this derision, however, you might have protested that it was deeply unfair. After all, how many practising Christians believe that the nativity is literal history, or that Mary really was impregnated by the Holy Spirit? But how do we take Christmas seriously if we don’t take it literally? How do we stop it becoming just a childish fairytale, something to provide themes for Christmas cards and carol concerts?

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from The Guardian http://bit.ly/2AffPMp
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