<p>[UNC</a> libraries to forgo Christmas trees - Local News | CharlotteObserver.com](<a href=“http://www.charlotteobserver.com/local/story/394604.html]UNC”>http://www.charlotteobserver.com/local/story/394604.html)</p>
<p>Wow… this is happening more and more around the country. Florida Gulf Coast recently reversed a decision to do the same after they received so many complaints about it.</p>
<p>I like a Christmas tree as much as the next person, but the reasons given in the article for not having one make perfect sense to me. Unless they are prepared to start hosting displays by a variety of religions, they need to stay away from any. If they want to decorate, something seasonal in ALL seasons could be very nice and not have religious content.</p>
<p>I am always torn about these Christmas display issues. I love them aesthetically–my nearby city has wonderful Christmas decorations done entirely in lights by a great designer–but I have an issue with the separation of church and state.</p>
<p>Makes sense to me–have as many Christmas trees as you want on private property, but public institutions should be more inclusive. Sometimes that means that if you can’t recognize everyone’s holidays, you need to stop privileging one above others.</p>
<p>BUT since when is a decorated tree a “religious symbol” a manger yes, a tree not so much. Yeah I know it is but really…Then no more dreidel days nor Kwanza mentioning or Ramadan, take Eid off the postage stamps, no more religious stamps either.</p>
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<p>I haven’t noted any refusal to display other symbols, just acrimony about traditional Christian ones. The argument of exclusivity seems like a red herring to me.</p>
<p>A decorated tree is one of the most well-known symbols of the religious holiday “Christmas” in our culture, whatever its origins, so it’s useless to pretend otherwise. 
Certainly it is not as overtly religious as a manger scene, just as a dreidel is not as overtly religious as a menorah.</p>
<p>Personally, I would have no problem removing all religious symbols from postage stamps. If we want our postage stamps to have spiritual content, I suggest a collection of “virtue” stamps such as Peace, Love, Wisdom, Charity, Forgiveness, Honesty, Friendship, Dignity, Freedom, et al.</p>
<p>There is a difference between <em>acknowledging</em> religious holidays and appearing to make them <em>official.</em> An interesting fact is that John Adams strongly felt that the US Postal Service ought to deliver mail 7 days a week in order to avoid the appearance of officially observing a sabbath.</p>
<p>FLVADAD, come on: you know perfectly well that the only reason Christian symbols come up more frequently is that those are the ones people are usually trying to display. The UNC library apparently had never thought of decorating for Ramadan, Yom Kippur, or Beltane, just to name a few alternatives.</p>
<p>Well said, Consolation!</p>
<p>FLVADAD, I suspect other symbols aren’t at issue here because they weren’t displaying anything else. What led you to believe otherwise? Publicly displaying everyone’s symbols is a physical impossibility, so in my (and many other people’s) opinion, better to steer clear of public support of religious iconography altogether. The whole “let’s dump all the ‘winter holidays’ in there so it’s not just Christmas” thing doesn’t really work either, since the only real reason we’re looking for other “winter holidays” to throw in is Christmas! Reminds me of an amusing thing that happened at my university a few years ago… my school has an annual tradition of a “Festival of Lights” celebration sponsored by the multicultural office at the end of the fall semester, where all the religious and cultural groups on campus do performances, presentations, and demos about religious tolerance and their traditions. We also have a very large Muslim population, and apparently one of the event planners, laboring under the idea that Ramadan was the “Muslim Christmas” asked the campus imam for some Ramadan songs and listed Ramadan as one of the “many holidays that traditionally bring light to the winter.” LOL! Ramadan, for those who aren’t aware, is timed off of a lunar calendar, and so gradually shifts seasons over the years :)</p>
<p>samiamy, Christmas trees feel awfully religious when Christmas isn’t your holiday.</p>
<p>The White House has a Christmas tree with an annual lighting ceremony, so perhaps that one is doomed too.</p>
<p>I am not a religious person, but I enjoy and appreciate seeing festive holiday decorations displayed, even if they do not represent my beliefs.</p>
<p>Would those of you who object to the “Christmas tree” feel the same way if it was dubbed a “Holiday tree” and was hung with symbols of all major religions?</p>
<p>I would. I’m Christian, but I know when I see condescension to others. (“We won’t *call *it a Christmas tree, wink wink.”) Not to mention, watch the response when the Wiccans et al want to display their symbols next to a cross.</p>
<p>I guess one man’s compromise is another man’s “condescension.” I actually think it would be very symbolic of our freedoms to see a wiccan symbol next to a cross.</p>
<p>it would be compromise if the foundation wasn’t derived from one particular faith. changing the name doesn’t change the tradition it is tied to.</p>
<p>As far as particular symbols, you and I might love to see Wiccan and Christian symbols displayed together, but I’d wager big money that there would be a major outcry if it happened.</p>
<p>I understand what you are saying with respect to the tree. Our family does not regard the tree as a religious symbol, but rather as an American tradition. (Acknowledging that it has roots in German paganism, I believe). </p>
<p>Anyway, perhaps its time for the major outcry, and the outcry-ers to just get over it. Its time we ought to be able to display our own unique beliefs and celebrations side-by-side without someone taking offense.</p>
<p>Let the citizens of North Carolina take a vote on it.</p>
<p>Saying it’s not a Christmas tree doesn’t make it so.</p>
<p>Pseudonym,</p>
<p>Are you sure? If a tree has no Christian symbols displayed on it, why should it be presumed to be a “Christmas” tree? I have a Jewish friend who buys a tree every year and decorates it beautifully, all in blue. Is hers a Christmas tree, too?</p>
<p>It is a reworking of a Christian tradition in a Jewish theme, and her choice, though many of my Jewish friends would be dismayed by it.</p>
<p>I believe the decorating of a tree is also done in Eastern Europe w/o any hat tips to Christianity. A Jewish friend from Belarus is thrilled that she can buy Christmas trees greatly discounted late in the holiday season.</p>
<p>Bay, the question of what aspects of a symbol are required to make it recognizable is a very interesting one. Personally, if I see an evergreen tree with stuff hanging from it (unless they’re bird-feeders or pinecones!), I call that a Christmas tree. If that stuff happens to be symbols from other religions and cultures, and it purports to publicly represent those cultures in an equal way, I call that a poor choice–let each belief system represent itself using its own iconography; don’t tack them on as adjuncts somewhere they don’t belong.</p>
<p>When you’re talking about personal choices for how to celebrate in your own home, I agree that people can have a lot of leeway in being creative about what certain things mean to them. If your friend doesn’t see her tree as a Christmas tree, that’s her prerogative. But an evergreen tree with tinsel on it, or with ornaments hanging from it, is not a religiously neutral symbol in my mind. Any modifications to the “classic” Christmas tree are commenting on that archetype in one way or another, and I don’t see the point in treating derivations of a Christmas tree as religiously neutral.</p>
<p>I am an atheist, and I would not like to see any sort of christmas decorations, but not because I am not christian. Christmas just makes me sick, and red and green are the worst colors ever. lol Christmas songs are even worse.</p>