Once again, the birthplace of Christianity, Islam and Judaism is consumed with vicious and faith-based internecine violence. All three faiths trace their beginning to the worship of a single creator – the God of Abraham from Ur, a Sumerian (Iraqi) city, about 2,000 years before the birth of Jesus of Nazareth.
One can fairly easily understand differences in outlook on which human leader of which sect is to be most highly revered. Should it be the carpenter evangelist Jesus of Nazareth, the long anticipated Messiah of the Hebrew nation, and the son of God in human form? Or should it be Muhammad, the military merchant of Mecca, the last of the prophets bringing the final definitive words of God to humanity? Or should it be the yet unborn saviour of humankind who will be a descendant of Israel? Followers of this belief declare that Jesus and Muhammad are to be revered as outstanding prophets but not the ultimate saviour and forgiver of sins for all mankind.
Still, we are about to celebrate another "gathering of people" in remembrance of the birth of Jesus the Christ (Greek) or Messiah (Hebrew) who was born in Bethlehem at the time when the countries surrounding the Mediterranean Sea were ruled by a regional empire based in Rome, having been solidified only 28 years before. Three hundred and eighty years later, Christianity was adopted as the official religion of the Roman Empire and thus began its religious and political march across the world.
The miracle of this religious movement is that it is based on the primacy of a creator demanding peace and goodwill to be practised by its worshippers, acting toward others in a manner in which one would want to be treated by them. It seems, therefore, proper to remind ourselves of this at least annually. And how better to do it than to celebrate the innocence of a newborn baby?
And so it is, in today’s world that 31 per cent of the global population of 8.2 billion are Christians, the largest of the six major religious groups.
And yet, Christian-based countries over the centuries have gone to war championing their faith in aggression rather than in defence. The latest is Russia, with the political leader of the country having the full and vocal support of his country’s 100-million-member Russian Orthodox Church.
As for the New World countries, Christ’s mass begins in earnest not with the 12 days of Christmas but with Black Friday. One rather misses Tiny Tim and Scrooge, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, The Night Before Christmas, and I’ll Be Home For Christmas.
Maybe next year we should decide to revisit the true intent of Christmas — but not until after the NFL Super Bowl and the Stanley Cup finals.