The New Nation - Internet Edition

CHRISTMAS, the greatest religious festival of the Christian Community, is being celebrated in Bangladesh as elsewhere in the world. Christianity, like other world religions, has a great social significance and humanitarian appeal. The themes of the day include, among others, promotion of goodwill and peace among world's peoples irrespective of religious faiths. Jesus Christ was born in a dark age when the human society was dominated by ignorance, superstition, greed, hatred and hypocrisy. Jesus worked out a transformation and a new turn in the lives of the people. This is how Christ brought about the dawn of a new era. This great occasion calls upon the world community to get rid of all social evils.

The very life of Jesus Christ is a great lesson for mankind. He was neither born of a wealthy family nor in a grand palace. Jesus was the embodiment of simplicity, holiness and renunciation of desires only for worldly wealth and pride. With His great human and divine qualities and knowledge and wisdom he worked as a beacon to those who had lost their way. He salvaged them and showed them the way to the world of enlightenment. This moral and spiritual awakening of man is the real Christmas.

Muslims had always greeted Christians at Christmas throughout history. The biased media have been giving too much focus to extremist voices while disregarding the tolerant and peaceful nature of the faith. "This has resulted in a very skewed and distorted picture of Islam," Prof Aref Ali Nayed, a renowned Muslim scholar, Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran, head of the Pope's Council for Inter-Religious Dialogue, told journalists last year that progress was being made on dialogue between the two faiths. Let the great lessons left behind by Jesus Christ light up man's way ahead.