A UK-centred [sic] view of Christmas from the London Times, aka "The Times":
A delightful, religion-free December 25 Thank God, it's now secular [...] For the overwhelming majority of us, Christmas is simply a fun, national, secular holiday. This Christmas, only about 2.7 million people went to an Anglican church service. To put that figure in perspective, an estimated 3.5 million of us spent part of Christmas Day shopping online - not to mention the 84 people who filed their annual tax return online last Christmas Day. [...] The truth about Christmas is that whether one is Jewish, Christian, Muslim, Hindu or any faith is no longer remotely relevant to its celebration. In a country where religions no longer provide an instinctive focus, that is surely all to the good. We have never, in the past, had a national celebration designed for everyone. Americans of all religions and none celebrate Thanksgiving every November. It is something to celebrate, not to bemoan, that the secular Christmas we all now share has, at last given, us a genuine national holiday. http://tinyurl.com/ywdnpv Allen E. ---
