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The truth is that our society has been given its moral principles by Christianity

That does not worry me while singing carols or giving and receiving presents. I’ve never been a card-carrying atheist. I prefer a gentler term, unbeliever, which positions me to appreciate the value of Christianity while refusing to believe its dogma. Every Christmas I find myself grateful to live in a Christian-dominant community within a civilization that has been constructed by Christianity. This, of course, is modern Christianity, stripped of its warlike and oppressive habits.

The truth is that our society has been given its moral principles by Christianity, and those principles shape us, whether we are committed to a religion or not. Christian feelings enter in the moral air we breathe and find a comfortable home within us.

We believe we should see the welfare of others as at least as important as our own. We should treat everyone fairly. We should be ready to give an honest account of our lives. When we describe our fellow citizens as “good,” we are usually saying that they follow the way of life that we have learned, consciously or not, from the pervasive Christianity around us. If we go out of our way to smooth the path of minorities, we are reflecting the same feelings.

Judeo-Christian traditions have provided the energy, intelligence and will to evolve democracy

On a grander level, over almost two millennia, Western civilization’s Judeo-Christian traditions have given structure and a coherent meaning to societies across Europe and the Americas. Those traditions have provided the energy, intelligence and will to evolve democracy, separate church and state, define human rights and justify freedom of speech. Christianity, as if telling us how to sort all this out, also invented the universities.