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Christmas: "Illness makes us aware of the value of tradition"
Photo:
Yo / Stock4B / plainpicture
SPIEGEL:
Mr. Göttert, half the country has been discussing for days how Christmas can be saved this year of the pandemic.
Do you think that is appropriate?
Göttert:
It is at least in need of explanation in a secular country and a largely non-religious society.
I'm a Catholic and I was the organist in a parish for 14 years, so I have a very strong bond with the church.
But even I can no longer sign a single sentence from the creed with a clear conscience.
And so are many in this country like me.
Who still believes that a virgin gave birth to a child at Christmas, the Son of God, Jesus Christ?
SPIEGEL:
And yet people are attached to Christmas.
Göttert:
It's amazing, isn't it?
It doesn't seem to matter to humans whether the story is true.
Because it is perfectly clear that it is historically incorrect.
The evangelists who tell them, Luke and Matthew, contradict each other even in dating.
Obviously, the decisive factor is not whether the story is true, but whether it is good.
And she is good.
The birth in the stable, the manger, the shepherds in the fields - that's wonderful.
The aesthetic of Christmas is simply unbeatable.
The message of peace and love anyway.
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