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.
13 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.
Jehovah's Witnesses simply follow the commands of the bible...we celebrate Anniversaries, because God instituted marriage, Jesus never commanded Christians to celebrate his birth. Rather, he told his disciples to memorialize, or remember, his death. (Luke 22:19, 20)So every year according to the Jewish calendar on Nisan 14 we celebrate the death of Jesus.
Jesus was not born December 25. I was limited to 2 pages so I will just say this...so whatever they choose to call the tree it does not make a difference because Christmas is not a Christian holiday.
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)
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.
The answer to this will appear by tomorrow. That was a good point annonymous but we will allow the bible to answer to that...
If interested please refer to my blog...www.onlythedeepinthought.blogspot.com later on tonight.
The link to the site is above. :)
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.
Anonymous...here is just a brief statement. I did not want my site turning into a battlefield so I thought it would be smart to stay where I am limited to 2 pages.
When the new covenant came into operation at Pentecost 33 C.E., it meant that the old Law covenant had ceased to have value in God’s eyes. (2 Corinthians 3:14; Hebrews 9:15; 10:16) That does not mean that anointed Christians are without law. They come under the divine law taught by Jesus Christ and written on their hearts. (Galatians 6:2) Therefore, the three annual festivals, being part of the old Law covenant, are not celebrated by Christians. (Colossians 2:16, 17) Nevertheless, we can learn much from the attitude of pre-Christian servants of God toward their festivals and other meetings for worship. We are thus motivated to appreciate the need to be regular in attendance at Christian gatherings as we do around the Whole world.
Therefore we only recognize the Memorial of Jesus Christ death as was commanded ...1 Corinthians 11:23-25 .
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