Tuesday was my first Christmas dinner. As Jews, my family have never “done” Christmas. My wife’s (we got married earlier this year) have, however, always had the full-on turkey, presents and crackers.

They’ve done so because Christmas is now almost entirely devoid of any religious element. 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.

So although it’s an annual tradition for Christian leaders to issue a Christmas homily, one has to wonder why they still bother – because the metamorphosis of Christmas from religious to secular holiday is part of the same process that renders bishops and priests increasingly irrelevant. When the Archbishop of Canterbury speaks, for instance, his words no longer carry automatic weight because of the office he holds. We first choose whether or not we respect him, and then decide whether to pay attention.

And when the Archbishop of Westminster tells us, as he did on Christmas Eve, that immigrants feel “excluded because they are outsiders” and that we should do more to welcome them, we decide first whether we have any respect for the man before deciding whether to pay heed to his pronouncements.

It happens that I agree with Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor’s sentiments over immigration. But I refuse to take moral lessons from a man who appointed a paedophile to a chaplaincy, in full knowledge of his deviancy. When the Cardinal speaks, I – like many others – simply ignore him.

This has nothing to do with whether or not we share a religion. I may be a Jew, but I listen respectfully when the Archbishop of York, Dr John Sentamu, speaks. Not because of his religion, but because of his character and his behaviour. He has earned my respect. Similarly, when the Chief Rabbi speaks, many nonJews pay attention to his words because they admire him, irrespective of his religion.

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.

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