How Holidays And Cultures Gradually Decline

Here's a story I saw linked by Jim West:

According to the results of a survey released today, 94 percent of Americans celebrate Christmas….

The new survey commissioned by American Bible Society and conducted online by Harris Interactive in November 2013 among more than 2,000 U.S. adults ages 18+ found that while 30 percent make a tradition of watching the 1983 film A Christmas Story and 28 percent look forward to watching a film or TV version of the Dickens classic A Christmas Carol, just 15 percent say reading the Bible's account of the birth of Christ is part of their holiday traditions….

The survey also found that knowledge of the biblical account of Christmas was lacking. Fewer than half of Americans (42 percent) were able to correctly identify what the Bible says brought Mary and Joseph to Bethlehem for Jesus' birth--reporting for a census. Worse still, just 28 percent of those ages 18-34 knew the right answer.

Before you think highly of yourself for being more knowledgeable than most other Americans about these things, which isn't much of an accomplishment, let me ask you some questions. Can you make a good argument for the virgin birth? A good historical case for Jesus' birth in Bethlehem? For the historicity of Luke's census? For other matters related to Jesus' birth? Do you even care?