Oh Christmas Tree!

I am generally a pretty easy going person. I was raised Catholic. I went to Baptist Church as a teen. I was baptized Pentacostal and went to an Assembly of God church when Gary was a kid and became quite the holy roller Christian. My son is a fundamentalist Christian. I am married to a Jewish man and am raising a Jewish daughter and have studied Judaism with fascination and appreciation. I recently took a college course on religion that was expansive and informative as well. I consider myself eclectic and intelligent and very open to religious experience and love that my daughter is fortunate enough to understand diversity of faith at such a young age. I think this teaches her kindness and compassion and tolerance all important qualities for everyone on this planet.

That said, I got an e-mail at work the other day, from a co-worker. It started so innocently with a lovely picture of a flickering Christmas tree. And then it read, quoting the best I can, "This is a Christmas Tree, Not a Hanukkah Bush, Not an Allah Plant, Not a Holiday Hedge. It's a Christmas Tree. That's right CHRISTmas, CHRISTmas, CHRISTmas. If you don't like it tough. Get over it. CHRIST is the reason for the season."

Hmmmm. How odd. I was truly pissed off by this little cyber sent ignorant, biased, insane, insensitive bit of bigotry. I called another women that I work with who had received said e-mail and asked, "Did he maybe miss the fact that my last name is of Jewish decent?" Not that it mattered, but I wondered. I generally have a great sense of humor and can laugh off stupid things chalking them up to ignorance or the source, but this irked me. Not because, it was rude, or bigoted or ignorant, but because it was not Christian like at all and it was sheerly and stupidly inaccurate.

The Christmas tree has NOTHING to do with Christmas. Not a damned thing. The Christmas tree has not one thing to do with the birth of Christ. Which is the reason for the season. Christ was born in Bethlehem. The trees indiginous to this area are olive trees and palm tree, not firs and pines that are adorned by Christians of late. The Christmas tree was a pagan tradition that evolved like many pagan traditions into Christian ones. It doesn't have a darn thing to do with the birth of Christ though. Neither does the gift giving, although as part of a birthday celebration gift giving is appropriate, shouldn't we be giving gifts to Christ since it's His birthday. Or shouldn't we give them to those in need in his place which would be far more significant and Christlike than sending spiteful, false e-mails to people. At least, Santa who gets a the bad rap of commercialism attached to him, embodies the spirit of Christmas. This spirit is that of giving to others (Christ-like), kindness to children (Christ-like) and love of mankind (Christ-like).

Christians are in an uproar because the ACLU wants people to say Happy Holidays instead of Merry Christmas in order to A) not offend anyone who does not observe Christmas and B) to include people from all walks of life and all parts of the world who celebrate different holidays during this time of the year. Christians are upset by this because they construe this action as the ACLU trying to impart atheistic views on the world, crushing Christian beliefs with one blow. The reality is that although I do not agree with actions of the ACLU in some situations, this action is kind, benevolent and actually pretty darn Christian. Heavens trying to kind to others, inclusive, observant, and understanding is difficult for certain Christians to take is pretty strange to me. But then again, the biggest problem many Christians have is adhering to one simple biblical rule. "Judge not lest ye be judged."

I think it is time that Christians started reading the e-mails before forwarding them and thinking about the ramifications of their contents. If you want to spread the word of God and your faith in God do so with love and kindness in your own words. And try to remember that in being Christian, your goal is to act in ways that are Christ-like. Christ would never have gone up to a person and told them a lie and then asked them to deal with it and all the while offending them too. It just boggled my mind and sadly, reminded me that bigotry is alive and well in the hearts of many, many people pretending to be good Christians.