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Holiday Tree offensive to Judaism

November 30, 2005

My church - Redeemer Presbyterian is participating in the lighting of Concord's "Holiday Tree". We have the opportunity to sing carols at the tree lighting and then carol downtown. I'm thankful we get to sing CHRISTMAS carols. I came across this post today from a Jewish Blog - I say AMEN!

The US has lately had some controversy over municipal trees being called "Holiday Trees" instead of "Christmas Trees." Christians have objected to the name of their holiday being obscured in such an ambiguous term. In particular, Boston has been the site of a controversy this year over the naming of the tree. The man who donated the tree even said that had he known it would not be called a "Christmas Tree," he would not have given it to the city.

A representative of House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert said, "To rename a Christmas tree as a holiday tree is as offensive as renaming a Jewish menorah a candlestick".

I'll go one step further. While Christians consider the renaming of the holiday symbol an affront to their religion, I find it offensive to my Judaism. The implication is that the tree is a symbol of the various holidays celebrated in America, most notably Hanukkah that generally falls out around the same time as the Christian holiday (particularly this year). The tree is not. It has nothing to do with Judaism, Hanukkah or any of our holidays. Regardless of its historical origin, the tree has come to be a symbol of one of the most important Christian holidays. Using an ambiguous term that implies it has significance to Judaism is, in my opinion, extremely offensive to Jews (and presumably members of other religions) and is simply inaccurate.

P.S. Dennis Hastert is a graduate of my Alma Mater - Wheaton College - he doesn't get a lot of Christian press because he lives a fully developed Christian Worldview that makes a respectful impact on our culture.