I'm Agnostic, but not about Christmas.
I’m Agnostic,1 but not about Christmas.2
I love Christmas. I enjoy putting up our tree,3 watching the usual Christmas movies like It’s a Wonderful Life and Die Hard, and seeing my wife wallow in the season with the wrapping of presents, baking of cookies, and a general holiday joie de vivre. We enjoy giving gifts.
The meaning of Christmas is the real gift, of course.
Perhaps no better summation of the meaning of Christmas exists than the “Linus Speech” from A Charlie Brown Christmas (go 40 seconds in):4
Linus is, of course, recapping Luke, Chapter 2, Verses 8-20.5
But what IS the message of Christmas, and how can believers and non-believers both agree?
There is a way.
Linus concludes with Verse 14:6
Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.
I believe one can be a Christ Follower, like my wife, or merely “Christ Adjacent,” like myself, and believe in this message.
The phrase “on earth peace, good will toward men” faces objections from no one except malcontents, psychopaths, and Sharon at the Crystal Corner Bar.
However, “Glory to God in the highest” can be believed literally by only one side.
With respect to the literal, the message of Christmas is easily understood. What is the true meaning of Christmas? God is Incarnate in Man. The Christians name this person Jesus. God is to speak to Man through his Son. He will be humanity’s salvation.
But salvation is a lesson for another holiday. Literally, what is the true meaning of Christmas?
God is Incarnate in Man.
We don’t agree, literally. Agreement not being possible between believers and non-believers on a literal interpretation, I argue for a metaphorical one. We can agree, metaphorically.
It’s not a bad thing to look for areas of agreement between 2 parties that disagree. It builds comity and relationships.
Let that agreement be made possible via Natural Law.7
In Natural Law, “all people have inherent rights, conferred not by act of legislation but by God, nature, or reason."8
This view of individual rights and equality arose with the Greeks. Christians may point to Paul’s Epistle to the Romans, Chapter 2, Verses 14-15 for scriptural authority regarding Natural Law:9
14 For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves:
15 Which shew the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another;)10
But Natural Law really came into its own with the Roman Stoics, who proposed the startling notion of the equality of all people; this was because they saw God everywhere and in everyone.11
This idea of human equality was given further refinement by Christian theologians during the Middle Ages, particularly Thomas Aquinas, who argued “that because human beings have reason, and because reason is a spark of the divine…all human lives are sacred and of infinite value.”12 The influence of Natural Law on English Common Law was profound. This in turn influenced Thomas Hobbes in the delineation of social contract theory within Leviathan,13 and led to John Locke’s ideas for a civilized society based on natural rights and contract theory in Two Treatises of Government.14
The foundations of Liberalism15 were being laid and the Age of Enlightenment16 was born. Natural Law can lay claim to influencing the United States’ Declaration of Independence, France’s Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, and the United Nations’ Universal Declaration of Human Rights.17
It also apparently influenced one of the most touching short stories in recent memory, Andy Weir’s The Egg.18 When “You” ask God about your basic nature, God replies:
“Every time you victimized someone,” I said, “you were victimizing yourself. Every act of kindness you’ve done, you’ve done to yourself. Every happy and sad moment ever experienced by any human was, or will be, experienced by you.”19
So when we say “Glory to God in the highest,” we can actually be celebrating the human as individual. We can celebrate our rights as individuals with inherent value. More than that, emphasizing an “I” creates a “You,” and so we have inherent relationships with others, which we also call responsibilities. We can celebrate our fellowship with others; we are social creatures.
As “God created mankind in his own image,”20 so too did we humans imbue ourselves with an element of the sacred in our concept of ourselves.
God is Incarnate in Man.
Believer or not, believing that each person is special is a good thing to believe.
It’s impact on how we behave towards each other is profound.
We see this when we see believers who believe each person is special engaged in charitable work. Those who work with the homeless, or refugees, or build homes for the needy see God in themselves and the people they help. This makes their effort an honest, heartfelt one.
We see this when we see non-believers who believe each person is special engaged in charitable work. Those who work with the homeless, or refugees, or build homes for the needy see each person as someone who could be themselves. This makes their effort an honest, heartfelt one.
Seeing the sacred in others makes one a better person. It is really, really hard to do because Life, but it is worth it.
So celebrate Christmas, whether Christian or not.
What is the message of Christmas?
All people have inherent rights and responsibilities because God is Incarnate in Man.
Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.
I’m Agnostic, but not about Christmas.
Merry Christmas, everyone.
Ibid.
Ibid.
Ibid.
Ibid.