During my teen years in the ’50s I was a believer in Christ and fortunately my Lutheran Synod pastor was radical in asking us to follow the humanitarian teachings of Christ and the moral values that bind a culture together in compassion and love of your fellow human beings regardless of their religion or status. I found love and joy in church gatherings where everyone was equal and shared in making the gatherings happen and be successful. I always had questions about my beliefs and as I extended my knowledge in college, I found it impossible to remain an honest follower of Christ. I gradually moved into my present atheistic position.

I was unable to attend church after marrying and having three sons other than at Easter or Christmas because I could not be a hypocrite and pretend for my sons that I believed in a Christian God and his son. Eventually we stopped attending. My three sons and I have seen Christian, Muslim, Jewish and other religious fundamentalists do terrible things supposedly in the name of their religion and God. It has made even secularism seem like a minority choice, which actually forms by far the majority opinion.

I provided my present religious status to show there are religious leaders well worth listening to regardless of ones position on religion. One of those voices is Bishop Lazar Puhalo retired Hierarch of the Orthodox Church in America. He’s Abbott of the New-Ostrog Monastery in British Columbia and also serves as Civil Liaison for the Archdiocese of Canada. Archbishop Lazar is author of many books including The Evidence of Things Not Seen: Orthodox Christianity and Modern Physics published by Synaxis Press.

I first listened to him do a radio interview on the Chicago Public Radio World View Show and through the Show’s website found a number of very worthwhile YouTube talks by the Bishop. In his World View interview talking about the true meaning of Christmas he said:

Christmas is a good season to focus on self awareness. A time when people feel charitable which should extend to all of the year not just at Christmas time. It can be a stepping stone to greater humanity. Fear is corrupting us and diminishing our lives both as individuals and societies. If people don’t come to grips with the hold fear has on them the death of compassion follows. We have to look at what our role is not the role of others. Peace is destroyed by what is in the head based on fear. This fear can evolve into a cultural structure that becomes specific traditions taught generation to generation. This inhibits the civility and humanity of the culture and leads to horrible actions.

When the Bishop holds teaching sessions at his monastery, he asks the participants to make a list of their prejudices, people and groups that give them problems or that they hate. He then asks them to give the reasons why and most can’t give coherent reasons. Bishop Puhalo says that is because of fear, often a deep structural fear. “Fear is the mother of anger, hatred and murder.” He agrees with Ghandi who said, “The difficulty with Christians is they pay so little attention to Christ.”

The Bishop says that religions with an “in your face” attitude toward other religions is no way to find any support for the sanctity of peace. As far as Christianity in North America, it is not the majority and it is becoming even less of a majority in the future with the growth of other religions especially Islam. He believes Ramadan, not Christmas will be the major focus in the future.

He believes that the spirit of Christmas began long before Christ and has always been secular. It is primarily a time for presents and turkey (or ham). “Christians have diminished themselves to a certain degree by declaring it a sectarian event and not just a holiday and time for feasting and joy.”

What I found the most important of the Bishops thoughts was on deep structural fear that becomes an addiction. (Note: my link is part 1 and there is also a Part 2) It’s clearly what is ruining our politics and our country. I fully agree with the Bishop when he says we have a moral obligation to validate everyone’s humanity and equal standing. Those addicted to fear who look down their noses at street people except at Christmas, then during the rest of the year will deny all the suffering and only look to what will best serve them or their fellow “tribesmen,” are very destructive to America. They profess to believe in a Christ who always was very kind to the outcasts of society, yet they act oblivious to the suffering of these outcasts and others who do not fully agree with their beliefs and values.

My dad taught me that everyone puts on their pants the same and although he only had a fifth grade education, it never affected or changed him to be around any high ranking people. He treated everybody the same. He would immediately start a conversation with anyone he encountered.

I have found genius in people regardless of their job. This really struck me one day when I was traveling home on the CTA Brown Line in Chicago at the time of the day when my car, which was the front car, filled up with high school students on their way home. They immediately struck up a conversation with the train driver as if he were an old, trusted friend. And it turns out he was. I observed how he obviously was daily mentoring those students on their way to their public housing communities damaged by drugs, crime and violence. He gave them encouragement and sound advice while safely driving the train. When I got off the train I went up to his platform window and told him how glad I was that people like him lived on the same earth as I did. Judging from his smile and reaction, I doubt that anyone had ever said something like that to him, particularly a White man. He was black and so too were most of the students.

That wonderful driver and mentor succeeded partly because of his knowledge, experience and communication skills but mostly because the students found someone to take some of the fear from their lives and give them hope for their future. Our world would be far better off if we listened to and followed the humane teachings of secular religious leaders like Bishop Puhalo. I encourage you to listen to some, if not all, of his YouTube videos.