Keep the X in Xmas

I once gave a Christmas sermon: "Keep the X in Xmas!" I thought then and still do now that my line of argument was clever.

I meant X as a symbol of the unknown--the mystery always beyond the progressing edge of knowledge. Mystery invokes wonder and joy, without which Christmas for us postmoderns is an empty commercial shell. My most popular Christmas meditation softly recommends: "If only for the season, the brief season of light and life and love, let us be a little foolish about candlelight and children and matters of the heart, if only for the season!"

To be a little foolish is to keep the mystery, the X factor in Xmas.

Religion Didn't Create Morality

I've decided to speak out more often, more aggressively about religious nonsense, particularly as such nonsense relates to political posturing.

What tipped the balance was a Sarah Palin utterance, quoted in a Washington Post article by Kathleen Kennedy Townsend titled, "Sarah Palin is wrong about John F. Kennedy, religion and politics."

Since Ms. Palin obviously wants to influence religion in American life, it's appropriate to push back, pointing out how misinformed she is.

Ms. Palin contends: "morality itself cannot be sustained without the support of religious beliefs."

There's convincing evidence today, thanks to evolutionary psychologists such as Steven Pinker, that we're hardwired by evolution to bend toward an instinctive morality. (A New York Times Magazine article by Pinker gives a handy overview of moral instincts.)

Contrary to Ms. Palin's pronouncement, religion didn't create morality. In fact, our human moral instincts significantly contributed to the creation of religion--not just one religion but many religions. And, yes, it's possible to be moral without religion.