We know a hand full of things about the birth of Jesus. It was during a census and we know shepherds were grazing their flocks. We know that neither of these things happened in December, not even in what we now know as Israel. 

Now, as with most Christian holidays there are many parts of Christmas which were adapted from other religions, most of which were pagan. As Christianity converted and absorbed masses of followers, often from lobbing for new laws, they would absorb whatever cultural or religious beliefs to make it easier for new followers to acclimate. 

The truth is none of us, including me, know exactly when Jesus was born, but the one time it is easy to prove it was not, is Winter. 

So, back to my point… In true Christian fashioned the holiday has been coopted over the years into something much more secular. Unfortunately, much of this hijacking has been commercial and materialistic, but certainly not all. Christmas in the United States has become the “holiday season”. This encompasses most faiths as many have their own holiday during this winter season. 

The US Holiday Season kicks off with Thanksgiving, which is exactly as it sounds, a holiday to give thanks. This holiday goes all the way back to the beginning of the nation, or so the story goes. Now many want to make this a religious affair too and that is fine if that is how you want to celebrate it, but every American of every faith as well as no faith have reason to give thanks for this country of ours. 

The US Holiday Season is filled with various holidays, but in general is a time for families and friends to gather, give gifts, and have feasts. It is also a time when Americans are more open to helping charitable causes and those who are more in need. Most would say that these themes honor Jesus’ teachings more than anything any church does all year. 

Despite what you believe, Jesus was a real person. He did teach us to treat each other with respect, dignity and most of all charity. He taught us to be better than we are. I personally don’t believe in his divinity which is one of the many reasons I am not a Christian or religious, however he was one of the greatest men this world has ever seen and in these times it’s important to remember him and honor his teachings. 

To those who would criticize me for celebrating someone who a faith is built on and I don’t believe in, I say this: I don’t have to agree with everything someone says or does to celebrate or even respect them. Washington and Jefferson were slave owners and many other terrible things, but I still celebrate them and believe they were great men. All men have flaws and aspects of their life I don’t agree with. I can objectively judge things based on the time in which they occur and overall outcome. 

My overall point here is that Christmas may have been created by Christians, but it is now a holiday season, and is a holiday season for all people. How can you not get behind a holiday which celebrates our love for each other? 

I am a man who loves tradition and is at times very old fashioned. However, I believe in being who I am. I have liberal, conservative, and moderate views. I consider myself for the most part moderate. I don’t ever decide on an issue before I know what it is and therefore can’t say I am any of these things. I am my own person. I think that political parties are interesting and in some ways are great parts of our society. They allow people to unite under one banner and for the causes they believe in. The problem is most political parties decide to take everything personal and resort to “mud-slinging” simply because the other party doesn’t agree with them. This is where that tolerance and accepting others for their differences comes in.

I consider myself an independent because I genuinely will not vote for a party, usually I don’t even vote for a man (or woman), I vote for the issues I believe in, as well all should. That can easily cut across party lines. If you say you are one or the other and you are strictly just that, then you have decided on issues before they have even become issues. For example, let’s say in the future we are going to start lunar colonies. The Republicans are completely for this and say it will generate revenue and assist with the growing population. The Democrats say that this is a bad idea because of the costs associated and the damage we could do to the moon’s orbit and everything it affects here on Earth. If I am a hardcore Republican I must be in favor, even if I am not. I have decided on an issue before it is even an issue because right now I have decided on a party.

I feel the same about religion. You can’t just pick a religion because they all have a set of beliefs you would have to agree with. You can’t have pre-marital sex using condoms as birth control and be Catholic or eat non-kosher meat if you are Jewish. It all just seems silly to me. The Free Masons aren’t even a religion, they are a fraternity of men, yet they have the right idea. If you believe in one true God, which they generically call the “Grand Architect of the Universe” then you satisfy their only requirement with religion. That should be enough. This is a good philosophy to have.

I was raised Southern Baptist and was very serious about it for many years. I had a talent for speaking with people, even in groups and making them see things my way. I quickly decided with the help of a preacher of mine that I wanted to become a Southern Baptist Minister some day. In high school I quickly decided against this profession for personal reasons the developed after my first girlfriend. I held on to my faith very firmly but learned that I couldn’t hold on to a religion because of my ever changing beliefs and the need to question everything.

In recent years I have labeled myself as agnostic. I am open to the idea of a God, but don’t consciously believe in him. I have learned too much over the years about how humans think to believe in religion. People must have reasons, we have to have a higher purpose in life, someone to appease. To believe there is something more, some set of rules and guidelines, some after-life we began creating religions. Humans do not want to accept that it is all just random. I pray and always have like anyone else. My praying has just evolved. I no longer pray to some deity. Now, it’s more of an inner monologue of hope. I have no problem with faith; please do not confuse faith and religion. I have faith, I have faith in people and I have faith in good over evil. To me, that is enough at this point in my life. I love people. People are my life’s work. I love understanding what makes them do the things they do. The human mind fascinates me to no end.  Unfortunately, religion has so many flaws. The biggest in my eyes is the fact that not only does religion not bread tolerance it does the opposite in most religions and breads hatred. It is not the intention of most religions to do this, but it happens none-the-less. Nearly every war that has ever been fought since the beginning of time involved religion. This is the opposite of what Christian religions should be doing.

Jesus is my other favorite topic in this arena. Jesus was one of the greatest men who ever lived. I am not going to argue his divinity beyond saying I don’t believe in it. However, I think for so many reasons he was a great man. Now, as with most intelligent men throughout history I think he must have been a bit crazy to do some of the things he did. On a serious note, he was a teacher. We credit him with being a carpenter, which he was, but he was so much more. Jesus was the first hippy. He was a diplomat, a teacher, a humanitarian (possibly the first), a social worker and all around good guy. He taught people the value of themselves as well as other people. He taught us to love each other, to rely on each other, to take care of each other, and how to provide for ourselves. He taught forgiveness and tolerance. The world could use more teachings like these things today.

Now if you are religious and I didn’t lose you on my views on Jesus, hold on to your seats, we are going to talk about the Bible next. The Bible is a great story. In my views and in a growing number of people’s view it’s only that. Historians have not only proven that much of it is ridiculous or impossible, even stories which seem possible, the history of the book itself proves how inaccurate it is. The bible like any other book is a book which was created by man, and therefore must be flawed. It is a collection of books which over the years some books have been decided (by men) to be true and others not so true. What is to say any man can be an authority on what “GOD” has “said”. If someone came up to you and said God talked to me last night and I wrote it down, you would think he was completely crazy. Enough said. All that and I didn’t even cover they Bible’s hypocrisy, bigotry, or overall hate in the old testament. The one thing I have to say though for all you who think it is to be read as 100% true and literal, do you really believe your god destroyed everyone on Earth just because they pissed him off by living their lives? AND if you do believe that, why hasn’t her totally destroyed us all now???