The Christmas Narrative Is About Charity and Love, Not Greed and Self-Dealing

As John Fugelsang, who risks becoming the most capable political commentator of our era, said: reminds us“The Christmas economy depends on people buying property to celebrate the birthday of the person who has given up the property.”

Author of this year's best-selling book protesting the abuses of religion and politics by right-wing Christian nationalists, Separation of Church and Hate: A Sane Man's Guide to Reclaiming the Bible from Fundamentalists, Fascists, and Fraudsters.Fugelsang is a decent and good-natured guy who has no desire to sprinkle snow on our Christmas fun. He simply wants to remind us of the biblical pleas that tend to be overlooked by right-wing fanatics who demand— as President Donald Trump did — that “Christianity is under tremendous siege” from liberal do-gooders.

“Jesus consistently stood on the side of the underdog rather than the privileged and powerful,” Fugelsang writes. “Open-minded, tolerant and too inclusive for the ultra-conservatives of his time, the Nazarene demonstrated generosity and selflessness and encouraged his followers to share their resources and put the well-being of others above personal gain.”

Fugelsang further reminds us:

Jesus stood up to… the authoritarians among the religious leaders of the day, intoxicated with their superiority.

The rich worship their height and possessions while denying the suffering of the poor.

The capitalists in the temple greedily exploit the poor believers.

The imperial government of Rome, whose lust for power led to its own downfall.

Those who believe that this is too militant an interpretation of the Gospels might consider Gospel of Matthewwith his accusation: “For I was hungry, and you gave Me food; I was thirsty, and you gave Me something to drink; I was a stranger, and you accepted Me”:

Or they could look to the messages of Pope Leo XIV, who continued the work of his predecessor Pope Francis by declaring the importance of the Catholic Church's “first choice” for the poor. Leo wrote in his first apostolic exhortation“God has a special place in His heart for those who are discriminated against and oppressed, and He asks us, His church, to make a strong and radical choice for the weakest.”

The force with which the new pope challenged the excesses of capitalism sparked a global backlash, not always a favorable one. The Pope objected:

Concrete commitments to the poor must also be accompanied by a change in mentality, which can have an impact at the cultural level. In fact, the illusion of happiness derived from a comfortable life pushes many people toward a vision of life focused on accumulating wealth and social success at any cost, even at the expense of others and by exploiting unjust social ideals and political-economic systems that favor the strongest. Thus, in a world where there are more and more poor people, we paradoxically see the rise of a wealthy elite living in a bubble of comfort and luxury, almost in a different world from the ordinary people. This means that there is still a culture (sometimes well disguised) that rejects others without even realizing it and tolerates with indifference that millions of people starve to death or survive in conditions unsuitable for human life.

In September, Leo addressed Christians with a call to love the poor. The document is based on the writings of Francis, who died in April 2025 at the age of 88 and who also condemned the excesses of capitalism, citing how “this economy is killing“

These are bold words, but they are also an honest assessment of how it was Francis 2024 designation: “It is often the richest who, out of sheer greed, oppose the implementation of social justice or holistic ecology.”

In this season of light and mercy, we have every reason to hope for a renewal of those instincts that Abraham Lincoln called “the better angels of our nature.” To do this, we must recognize the urgency of Pope Francis' decision. warning that “until the problems of the poor are radically solved by abandoning the absolute autonomy of markets and financial speculation, and by combating the structural causes of inequality, no solution to the world's problems, or, for that matter, to any problems” will be found. When he repeated this observation shortly before his death, Francis noticed“I know it's worrying [people when I say that]but it's true.”