Embrace those tidings of comfort and joy

Believe me, I understand if you’re ambivalent or even disdainful of the religious aspects of Christmas.

I understand why you couldn’t care less which festive cups Starbucks uses, why you’d just as soon your grandchild be a dancing snowflake as an adoring shepherd, why “Season’s greetings” resonates just as well as “Merry Christmas” with you, why you’d rather hear “Baby, It’s Cold Outside” than Handel’s “Messiah.”

Maybe pompous ivory tower professors have lectured you that “everyone knows” the New Testament was written hundreds of years after the alleged...