Question: The annual celebration of the birth of Jesus is less than two weeks away. We've all seen the nativity scenes that pop up in front of churches and front doors across the country.

But how do we know that Jesus Christ was actually born on Dec. 25th?

Answer: We don't. In fact, there's a good chance he wasn't even born in December. The Web site The Jesus Police monitors and corrects commonly held presumptions about the Christian messiah, and one of the biggest misconceptions is that Christmas is his actual birthday.

While it is impossible to nail down an exact date, Jesus police chief Dr. James Gardner believes that Jesus was likely born in June. Why? Luke 2:8 describes Jesus's birthplace as "In that region there were shepherds living in the fields, keeping watch over the flock by night." That sure doesn't sound like December, does it? Gardner writes that shepherds slept with their sheep from June to November, and that June was known as the month men traditionally fed their flocks the remains of the wheat harvest.

So, if logic points toward a warm Christmas, why celebrate it in the middle of winter? Scholars believe the Roman church appointed Dec. 25 as the big day in the 200s because pagans were already worshipping their sun god on the same day. That's right, Dec. 25 was believed to be the Sun's birthday. (It's also just a few days after the winter solstice, the shortest day of the year, after which the days grow longer.)

So in a sense, Christmas is a syncretic celebration that allowed Christians to party along with the prevailing religion.

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