A delightful, religion-free December 25 (The Times)

Joshua

You have made a connection here between church attendance and religiosity which I believe to be largely false. Simply because many people do not attend church does not necessarily mean they do not adhere to the basic tenets of the Christian faith. Indeed, according to the UK Census in 2001, 71.6% of respondents suggested that they identified as Christians. You are kidding yourself if you believe that Christ does not have a central role to play in the celebration of this religious festival for many millions of people in the UK. I believe that the secularization of Judaism has been an unmitigated disaster for our people. Indeed I believe it has been every bit as disastrous as the Holocaust in very many ways. This is why, despite the fact I am not in the least bit religious, I have left every penny I have in the world to the Chabad-Lubavitch movement. Despite the strong reservations I have about the messianic elements that have plagued Chabad in recent years, I believe that, at least so far as the survival of Jewish life in the Diaspora is concerned, they are the only hope for the Jewish people. I do not curse those Jews who celebrate Christmas, but I do pity them, and at the same time I despair for our future. In celebrating Christmas you betray yourself, your heritage and your people.

Jennie

Most Brits do now celebrate, and they always have celebrated, Yuletide rather than Christmas - many without even realising it. Yuletide is a northern European, pagan, festival of merry-making that long pre-dates Christ. Originally, it probably was to celebrate the beginning of the end of winter with the lengthening of the days again. So entrenched was the tradition of Yuletide that the early Christian leaders had no hope of putting a stop to the celebration of this pagan festival. So, they superimposed the celebration of the birth of Christ onto Yuletide. Thus, with one stroke, the church elders got the populace to celebrate 'Christmas' without a fight. Clever. In other words, Christmas has always, in essence, been a secular festival, devoted to having a good time.

Danielle

I disagree, people may not listen to the Archbishop of Canterbury but they do listen to the Pope whom you mysteriously fail to mention.

Fran

It's true, Stephen, that lots of people who aren't Christian have a celebration at Christmas. But you don't appear to recognise the difference between celebrating with family and friends because it's traditional at this time of year, and rejoicing because the Creator of the universe decided to intervene in the world's affairs by sharing in the joys and pains of being human. It's true that no other great religious festival has the universal appeal to people of all faiths and none that Christmas has. But that fact in no way lessens the Christian significance of Christmas to the 2 billion or so Christians worldwide. I'm curious that such an astute commentator should have such an apparent blind spot on his radar.

Jennie

Most of the two billion (mainly non-practising) Christians that Fran states celebrate the birth of Christ would not do so were Christmas not a deeply-entrenched, massive, festival, with pagan origins, all about having fun often to the point of excess. Easter, arguably a more important time for Christians than Christmas, is not marked by 'Christians' to anything like the same extent. Christmas, as the birth of Christ, is celebrated by default by all but a small minority. Most of us are merely following the pattern established thousands of years before Christ of rejoicing around the time of the Winter Solstice.

Jeremy Jacobs

Joshua wrote "I believe that the secularization of Judaism has been an unmitigated disaster for our people". Explain