Its easy to label commercialism and self intrest as 'bad' things but its not as simple as that. Most 'acts of good' have some kind of personal gain at the centre of it.
At christmas for example
- People donate more money to charity , they do this as it makes them feel better about themselves
- People give presents to others, they do so because it pleases the person and makes the giver feel better about themselves
Its like above when someone comments that the donation of the Jesus dols was for the tax breaks. Alot of companies do such things as it has a finacial benifit to them. That doesnt mean the donation doesnt help someone.
Christianity made the holiday more marketable, the better marketability meant that firms could make money off it so promoted it and this promotion opened the holiday up to more people inturn having the positive effects of people being more charitable, giving and getting famailies together