The Christmas story suggests that we can somehow try to both be loyal members of our nations, our families, our tribes—and also to reach out to the broader human community of which we are also a part.

As everyone knows, the evening of December 31 is New Year’s Eve. But why is December 31 New Year’s Eve? And why is the next year the number 2014?

That little baby wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying so cutely in the manger is the biggest trouble maker in world history, and the shocking claims that Christianity makes about who he is and what he means irritate and antagonize people all over the world.

As we teeter on the cusp of 2014, a whirlwind and partial summary, not so much on what’s been happening lately across the Middle East, but on what it all really means.

Theists and atheists are different. While both groups think life means something, they understand that meaning in different ways.

Why do Christians and so many other people believe in an invisible ruler and creator of the universe – and then how does the Christian idea of God differ from the others?

The gospels make a point of saying that Jesus was born of a virgin, but there is more to the story than the absence of a biological father.

Anti-Semitism is the sign of profound mental and social failure — and a harbinger of more failures and errors to come.

The specifically Christian idea of the Virgin Birth is one of the most controversial and confusing theological concepts around, and a Yuletide blog which didn’t take on the topic wouldn’t be doing its job.

Victor Yanukovych has presented his nation as a gift to Vladimir Putin, but the Ukrainian people have gathered in Kiev’s Independence Square to resist this move. Violence is still possible, and more is at stake than just the political future of one country.