I read an article in Crain's today that discussed how some retailers are getting flak for calling the Christmas trees that they are selling Holiday trees. My opinion, calling them Holiday trees is taking PC to a whole neurotic level. But, I may be wrong. So here's my question. Do non-Christian religions or people who do not believe at all celebrate Christmas? I may be looking at this very naively but I would just assume if you are celebrating Christmas that you believe in Christ and therefore would not have a problem with a Christmas tree.
I know that some Christian religions do not celebrate Christmas even though they believe in Christ, but is the reverse true?
And if you don't believe in Christ but do celebrate Christmas for the family aspect of it, etc. is it really a problem to call it a Christmas tree?
I think on alot of levels we are over-pcing our country right out of any religious beliefs. This might be one of them.
ETA - I do realize that the tree isn't really part of the true Christian tradition, I'm just asking if it's really a big deal to be calling it a Christmas tree.
10 comments:
good point, mary! i also have questions about this. and, what about Jehovah's Witnesses, who celebrate nothing?
BoUnCeS!! LibbY!
I believe that they actually do celebrate something like Good Friday, but I will leave that explanation (less than two pages please) to loveabulls. I'm sure she'll be around soon.
I think a lot of people who are not Christian celebrate Christmas--what with all of the office parties and whatnot. I've also heard the expression "Channukah Bush" (Christmas Tree) and "Channukah Harry" (Santa Claus). As you pointed out, the origin of the Tree is not really Christian.
At the same time, no...it does not seem like a big deal to call them Christmas Trees.
My guess is that if stores are doing this, though, they've done some research and believe they will sell to a wider audience calling them holiday trees.
I no longer consider myself to be a Christian. I was raised in a Christian church which did NOT celebrate Christmas as a religious holiday.
I celebrate Christmas as a tradition. I enjoy it lots. Nothing wrong with calling it Christmas, because it is the celebation of Jesus Christ supposed birth date. Of course I believe that Jesus was a real person. We just have no idea what time of year he was born. But so what?
I do think that government buildings should not display religious scenes, but a Christmas tree is NOT part of religion.
I will have to disagree with that Christmas not being a Christian holiday. There are many religions encompassed in the term "Christian" and it is a holiday in some, of course, not others.
thanks, loveabulls!
BoUnCeS!! LibbY!
Personally, everyone is entitled to their own beliefs and opinions. Why suddenly we have become so PC about it I have no idea. I tell everyone "Merry Christmas" and if they don't like it tough sh**. I'm not sure whatever happened to live and let live but I seriously find our world today to be quite sad and pathetic. I, nevermind, I was only partway up the soap box and if I don't stop now this is going to get much too long! :)
Well, I've got my Christmas tree up and decorated! I love it and it's beautiful.
few things...
Christmas is a Christian holiday. The date selected to celebrate the coming of Jesus into our world was selected by the Church. (birth is a little misleading, as would be "Mary mother of God")
Considering the time that Jesus was born, and the culture at the time, Birthdays were not celebrated by any of the Jews. Celebrating birthdays was, at that time considered a trait of the pagans.
If you limit celebrations (for loveabulls) to those specifically mentioned, then you must also celebrate passover, festival of harvest, festival of shelters, etc. Jesus kept these festivals, so along that line of thinking you should also.
Given that our country was founded on judeo-CHristina principles and that the founding fathers really had no intention of the government prohiting religion, I beleive that gov't buildings should be allowed to display Christmas decoration that are of a religious nature.
If you think the intention was to separate Church and state, look at the history.
The first Congress opened with a Christian prayer lasting about 3 hours. The pulbic school system was originally instituted to promote literacy..so people could read the Bible. Incidently, the Bible was the first book that Congress fully funded for the School system.
It is interesting that the separation issue is used to discriminate against Christina religions while at the same time preference is given to Islam/Hindu/Buddism, etc under the guise of promting "diversity".
Holiday tree vs Christmas tree.
A few of the stores (such as Lowes) came under some fire for changing to Holiday tree and have now gone back to CHristmas tree.
Target and Kmart, still refer to holiday tree. Interesting that when going to these 2 stores, they did not carry any Christmas decorations even remotely religious in nature. The store manager had no answer for this.
Polls show that around 95% of Ameirican celebrate CHristmas (question was worded wiht Christmas, not the generic holiday).
Look in the phone book, Christian churches out number all other religions by over 200 to 1.
Very few, if any would be offended by the word Christmas. And like it or not, that is what is is.
(I was not given a directive to keep under 2 pages)
The link to the site is above. :)
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