‘Christmas is the most important Christian celebration.’
This question appeared on the 2020 GCSE Christianity paper (in ‘Christian Practices’). Nothing like it has been used since, so it is a good idea to have an answer ready for it — the exam board does re-use questions, and this one’s time could be coming up. Interestingly, ‘festivals/celebrations’ are not part of the A-Level Christianity Specification, so (unusually) the model essay that follows will not work for both exams. However, if you are preparing for the A-Level, do not worry: we are planning to start posting A-Level specific writing guides in the new year. Indeed, if there is a topic for which you would particularly like a writing guide, let us know and we will include it in the lineup. In the meantime, I still recommend reading through this guide, because the logical principles in it apply to a wide range of topics.
Defining your terms
There are a few things that need to be clarified before you can begin to answer this question. The obvious one is ‘Christmas’. Probably everyone in the UK is familiar with this word, but ‘Christmas’ has a technical meaning in Christianity which it is important to be aware of if you do not want to lose marks. For Catholic Christians (and Christians whose churches descend from Catholicism, e.g. the Church of England), the ‘Christmas season’ (or ‘Christmastide’) begins at sunset on 24 December and continues until the end of 6 January (these are the famous ‘Twelve Days of Christmas’). The period from 1 December until sunset of 24 December is not a part of the Christmas season, but rather belongs to the pre-Christmas period of preparation, Advent (for details of the above, see Just 2025b). So, technically, if you were to discuss in your essay events from Advent (e.g. lighting an advent wreath or making a ‘Christingle’), this would not count as answering the question. It would be a harsh examiner who made this distinction, but I advise preparing for the worst case scenario, and sticking with events that take place from Christmas Eve onward.
Remember, though, that you need to ‘give reasoned arguments to support a different point of view’, which means mentioning at least one other Christian celebration. There are lots of these to choose from, but the Specification only requires that you know two, Christmas and Easter (AQA 2025: 12). As such, the model essay we will construct here will take these as our examples. Note, however, that ‘Easter’ too has a technical meaning in Christianity: the ‘Easter Season’ (or ‘Eastertide’) runs from the morning of Easter Sunday (which, unlike Christmas, does not have a fixed date) until forty-nine days afterwards. Again, the pre-Easter period of preparation has a special name, Lent, as do the three days which precede Easter Sunday (they are called ‘Triduum’; for details, see Just 2025a). And again, you technically could not use any events from this period (e.g. being smeared with ashes on ‘Ash Wednesday’) in your discussion of Easter. Play it safe, and stick to activities which take place on Easter Sunday.
By far the most important word to consider, however, is ‘important’. Unlike ‘Christmas’ and ‘Easter’, there is no common Christian position on what makes a celebration ‘important’. You must supply your own definition for this word; indeed, as we shall see, you must supply more than one definition for this word.
The central question
To answer this question, you need to propose a definition of what makes a Christian celebration ‘important’, and then defend either Christmas or Easter as a better example of an important celebration. However, because you must give different points of view, you must also give alternative definitions for what makes a celebration important, and reasons that these other definitions are inferior to yours.
That probably sounds confusing. It will become clearer with some examples:
Definition 1: ‘The most important Christian celebration is the one that emphasises the Incarnation most’.
For Christians, the ‘Incarnation’ is the ‘belief that God took on human form in the person of Jesus’ (AQA n.d.). Now, Christianity is not the only religion to argue that a god might take on human form, but it is an unusual example of a religion that argues there is only one God, and that God took on human form just once, at a specific moment in time. This claim is important for Christians because it means that Jesus possessed all the qualities of God, including being all-knowing (omniscient), all-loving (omnibenevolent), and all-powerful (omnipotent). As a result, Jesus’s teaching about God, sin, and the afterlife are utterly reliable — they are neither a rabbi’s interpretation of a text, nor even a prophet’s interpretation of a revelation. Rather, they are God speaking to us as a human, and modelling through a human life God’s nature.
If Jesus was not God incarnate, some Christians argue, there is no reason to treat Jesus’s teachings as any more reliable than any other human teacher, and far more reason to be skeptical of his miracles. They might argue, then, that the most important thing for Christians to do is to regularly remind themselves of Jesus’s divine nature. And so, the celebration that reminds Christians of this will be more important than any other celebration.
The entire point of Christmas is to remind Christians of precisely this. A Christmas service typically includes a set list of Bible readings which emphasise Jesus’s divine nature, for example, the famous opening passage from John’s Gospel:
In the beginning there was the Word. The Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. All things were made by him, and nothing was made without him. In him there was life, and that life was the light of all people. The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overpowered it. (John 1. 1–5)
This passage sets out that Jesus (‘the Word’) is the same being as ‘God the Father’, that He (Jesus) has existed forever, and that He was involved in the creation of the world. It sets up the even more important claim that follows: the claim about the Incarnation, viz. ‘The Word became a human and lived among us’ (John 1. 14). Not only are these passages read at a Christmas service, but the service often includes powerful symbols — like the re-enactment of Jesus’s birth through a Nativity play or the lighting of candles in the darkened Church — to help even people who do not understand the readings to grasp the importance of the Incarnation. I could go on, but you get the idea: the Christmas service drives home to everyone present that Jesus was God. And it is from this fact, the Incarnation, that Jesus gets his authority. So, they might argue, this must make the Christmas service the most important Christian celebration.
Definition 2: ‘The most important Christian celebration is the one the best introduces people to Christianity’.
Another way in which Christianity is somewhat unusual among world religions is its conviction that only Christians will enter Heaven and/or the Kingdom of God. (Yes, there are Christian universalists, but they are a small minority.) But Christians are taught that their own salvation depends on showing love for their neighbours, and that their non-Christian neighbours are in danger of eternal hellfire (for a discussion of this, see Donoho 2025). Jesus’s final words to his disciples, ‘go and make followers of all people in the world. Baptise them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit’ (Matthew 28. 19) — some Christians interpret this to mean that all Christians must do whatever they can to convince their neighbours to become Christian themselves, or risk losing their own place in Heaven. It follows that for these Christians, the most important Christian celebration is going to be the one that is most useful for getting non-believers to become Christian.
This, it can be argued, is clearly Christmas. Giving gifts, dressing Christmas trees, and singing carols are all such appealing practices that even many non-Christians now do them. However, they are also closely linked to Christian beliefs, and offer ideal opportunities for Christians to teach non-Christians about Christianity (for explanations of the links and further examples, see Archdiocese 2025). In contrast, most other Christian celebrations either do not appeal to non-Christians (e.g. being smeared with ashes on Ash Wednesday) or their symbolism is less closely related to Christian theology (e.g. rabbits and chocolate eggs at Easter). As such, these Christians argue, Christmas is clearly the most important Christian celebration, because it offers the best opportunities for teaching about Jesus.
Definition 3: ‘The most important Christian celebration is the one that emphasises the Resurrection the most’.
Notice that this definition is almost identical to Definition 1, but it replaces ‘Incarnation’ with ‘Resurrection’. The argument here is that Jesus’s death and resurrection are unquestionably the most important part of Christian theology. No less an authority than the Apostle Paul (who, if you are not familiar, was the first Christian theologian whose writings survive) argues that:
if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is worth nothing, and your faith is worth nothing. [...] And if Christ has not been raised, then your faith has nothing to it; you are still guilty of your sins. And those in Christ who have already died are lost. If our hope in Christ is for this life only, we should be pitied more than anyone else in the world. (I Corinthians 15. 14–19)
What exactly he means here is a topic for another day. The key takeaway, however, is that Jesus’s death and resurrection were the means by which the sins of the world were forgiven. It is not enough for Jesus to simply be God incarnate: yes, this guarantees the correctness of His teachings about God, but no human can follow these teachings perfectly, and in any case there is still the matter of original sin. In other words, good moral conduct is important, but it cannot get you into Heaven; only Jesus’s death and resurrection can do this. So, no resurrection = no Christianity.
It follows, therefore, that the most important Christian celebration is the one that remembers the most important event in Christianity — the resurrection. And this is Easter, a whole celebration built around remembering Jesus’s resurrection and the importance of it.
Choosing a side
In theory, you could defend any of these three definitions. However, I strongly recommend arguing for Definition 3. As sometimes happens, this prompt (‘Christmas is the most important Christian celebration’) is not really a serious theological argument within Christianity. I am not saying that no Christian has ever argued that Christmas is more important than Easter, but my instinct is that the majority of Christians would agree Easter is more important, for basically the reason described above (for a detailed discussion of this, see Labanca 2025).
Constructing your essay
We are now in a position to construct the essay. As usual, this one follows the quaestio disputata structure. This means that we will first give the arguments for Definitions 1 and 2, then give our own Point-of-View (Definition 3), and finally offer replies explaining why Definition 3 is superior to Definitions 1 and 2. If you find this confusing, just rearrange it so that it reads: Point-of-View (Definition 3) → Definition 1 → Reply to Definition 1 → Definition 2 → Reply to Definition 2. Or, just wait a couple of days: we will post the revised structure on TikTok within the week.
Some Christians argue that Christmas is the most important Christian celebration. They claim that the most important celebration is the one that puts the most emphasis on the incarnation (God’s becoming human). This is because Jesus’s authority as a teacher depends on His being God incarnate, and therefore being all-knowing (omniscient). At Christmas, Christians read Bible verses about the Incarnation, such as ‘The Word became a human and lived among us’ (John 1. 14). No other Christian celebration puts so much emphasis on the Incarnation. Therefore, Christmas must be the most important Christian celebration.
Other Christians agree that Christmas is the most important Christian celebration. They point out that Jesus told his disciples, ‘go and make followers of all people in the world’ (Matthew 28. 19). They argue that the most important Christian celebration is the one that helps ‘make followers’ of people. This is definitely Christmas, because it is a fun celebration that even non-Christians can enjoy, but which still introduces people to Jesus. So Christmas must be the most important celebration, because it is the one that best puts Jesus’s words into action.
However, I argue that Easter, not Christmas, is the most important Christian celebration. The foundation of Christianity is not the Incarnation alone, but also the resurrection of Jesus. As the Apostle Paul tells us, ‘if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is worth nothing, and your faith is worth nothing’ (I Corinthians 15. 14). Jesus’s death and resurrection is what allows us to be forgiven of our sins, and to join God in Heaven. So the most important Christian celebration is the one that reminds people of the resurrection. This is the whole point of Easter, and so Easter must be the most important Christian celebration.
To people who argue that Christmas is more important than Easter because of the Incarnation, I reply that the biblical authors did not think so. Only Matthew’s and Luke’s gospels include the story of Jesus’s birth. And the Apostle Paul says nothing about it at all. However, all four Gospels and Paul’s letters talk about the resurrection. The first Christians knew better than we do what was important to remember about Jesus — and they clearly thought the resurrection was more important. So the celebration that remembers it, Easter, must be the most important Christian celebration.
To people who think that Christmas is a better opportunity to grow the Church, I reply that it is not effective for this any more. Jesus taught us to ‘sell your possessions and give the money to the poor’ (Matthew 19. 21). But Christmas has become a very commercial holiday, which is all about getting expensive gifts and eating lots of food. This is the very opposite of what Jesus taught people to do, and so it is not a good introduction to Christianity at all. On the other hand, Easter is all about the resurrection and God’s love, so it is a better introduction to Christianity, and a more important celebration.
I conclude that Easter, not Christmas, is the most important Christian celebration.
A few notes before concluding:
As ever, I have included the biblical references in the model essay; and as ever, you would not need to do this on the exam. What you might do, however, is start making flashcards with these verses. I deliberately return to the same verses again and again, so in a very short while you will build up a bank of verses to use in your own writing.
In the interest of space, I only fully explained the arguments for each definition of ‘important’. I did not explain in detail the ‘Replies’ to Definitions 1 and 2. I presume these are easy enough to follow, but if you do not fully understand why they work, do not hesitate to reach out. We will respond with a post clarifying the matter.
We will continue to post new writing guides every week through the holiday period, but we have something special planned for ‘Christmastide’ this year. Keep an eye on the website and wait for the reveal!
I hope that the above all makes sense. Let us know if it does not, and someone will get back to you as soon as possible. In the meantime, enjoy your Advent/Christmastide!
Until next time.
References
AQA. 2025. ‘Religious Studies A GCSE (8062) Specification’, AQA <https://cdn.sanity.io/files/p28bar15/green/ab272d86486eb6b391a2c33de9072a5031e0f584.pdf?_gl=1*1kzm25y*_gcl_au*MTI5NjMxNDg4MC4xNzY1Mjk5MzUw> [accessed 23 December 2025]
———. n.d. ‘Subject Specific Vocabulary – Component 1: The Study of Religions’, AQA <https://www.aqa.org.uk/resources/religious-studies/gcse/religious-studies-a/teach/subject-specific-vocabulary-component-1-the-study-of-religions-beliefs-teachings-and-practices> [accessed 23 December 2025]
Archdiocese of New Orleans. 2025. ‘Christian Meaning of Christmas Decorations’, Archdiocese of New Orleans <https://nolacatholic.org/christian-meaning-of-christmas-decorations> [accessed 23 December 2025]
Donoho, Stephen. 2025. ‘A Loving God Would Not Send Anyone To Hell’, Eductor <https://www.eductor.org/blog/a-loving-god-would-not-send-anyone-to-hell> [accessed 23 December 2025]
Just, Felix. 2025a. ‘Readings for the Easter Triduum and the Season of Easter’, The Catholic Lectionary Website <https://catholic-resources.org/Lectionary/1998USL-Easter.htm> [accessed 23 December 2025]
———. 2025b. ‘Resources for Liturgy and Prayer for the Seasons of Advent and Christmas’, The Catholic Lectionary Website <https://catholic-resources.org/Lectionary/Seasons-Advent-Christmas.htm> [accessed 23 December 2025]
Labanca, Nicholas. 2025. ‘Easter or Christmas? Which Is More Important?’, Ascension <https://ascensionpress.com/blogs/articles/easter-or-christmas-which-is-more-important?srsltid=AfmBOopiVtNJImUJRimV0DylMMSWVnJMIHqNj45aEKc8GxQCpPPBNvch> [accessed 23 December 2025]