The spirit of Christmas may have been dampened for millions of people as violence in the name of religion seemed to overflow this festive season. People who do violence are, by definition, not religious as the world’s major religions profess love, joy, peace and togetherness in the greater cause of humanity. It is a commentary on the times we live that it has become seemingly impossible to separate the religious from other motives like political and economic for the violence that the world is suffering from. As the US bombed Islamist militants in Nigeria on Christmas Day, the actions of...