A recent letter to my local paper claimed that, eighty or so years ago, the writer’s family had received a Christmas visit from a mysterious stranger who, after consuming a huge amount of food, vanished while leaving only his hat behind. The writer expressed absolute faith that the visitor was either Jesus or Saint Joseph. The truth is that variations of this story are found in cultures throughout the world, and some predate Christianity. It shows that all legitimate religions, i.e. those whose purpose is to teach positive values and behavior as opposed to priming their followers for mindless violence and wars of conquest, promote hospitality toward distressed strangers.

Jesus said that, whatever one does toward the least of his followers, one does to Jesus. In other words, the Christian is to treat a distressed stranger or poor person as if he was Jesus himself. A far older Greek story, in which a pair of gods disguise themselves as poor travelers, teaches exactly the same lesson. The gods visit a family that, despite its poverty, shares the best of its food with the impoverished travelers. The gods then reveal their true identity and repay the family many times over. Hinduism features at least one story that is almost identical. The Christian legend of Saint Christopher (Christ-Bearer) describes how a strong man helps a distressed traveler (who is Jesus in disguise) cross a river by carrying him on his back. The Greek hero Jason similarly helped someone he thought was an old woman cross a river, only to discover afterward that she was the goddess Hera.

The similarities between these stories and teachings are far from coincidental, because every legitimate religion is based on Natural Law: the natural laws of human behavior that govern all civilizations. Christians call it the Gospel (Good News), Hindus call it Dharma (the Way), and Buddhists call it Bodi-Dharma (the Good Law). Chinese and Japanese also call it the Way, as Tao and Do respectively.

Needless to say, Greek as well as Jewish values–noting that many early Christians were Greek–influenced Christianity, and the contents of the New Testament suggest that Jesus and/or his disciples knew about Buddhism and Hinduism as well. The New Testament’s warning against materialism parallels Buddhist teachings about “attachments to material wealth,” and people do indeed get into trouble–like overwhelming credit card debt–when they become slaves to materialism. On the other hand, people with modest incomes who do not feel it necessary to buy a new car every few years can often accumulate quite a bit of money.

In conclusion, the common behavioral framework of every single legitimate religion on earth reinforces and affirms all these religions: Judaism, Christianity, Hinduism, mainstream Islam, Buddhism, and Taoism. Christmas is therefore not a time for politically-correct “Bah humbug” objections to our country’s primarily-Christian heritage, but rather a time to emulate Tiny Tim by proclaiming, “God bless us, every one.”