A Little Christmas Tree Controversy

I had an interesting lesson in pluralism and political correctness the other night. I was attending our strata council meeting and the agenda item was scheduling a date to decorate the Christmas Tree that get set up in the lobby of our building every December. One of the new members to the council (and a newer resident of the building) exclaimed “A Christmas Tree? How is it decorated? It’s not covered with religious symbols, is it?

“Oh no, it is a holiday tree, not a Christmas tree. Besides, Christmas trees are not really Christian. They come from Northern European winter solstice celebrations.”

Someone else chipped in “One year we had a Menorah on the Concierge’s desk, what happened to that? And what’s the African celebration?” (It’s Kwanzaa – but at the time no one could remember. I think we were slightly embarrassed by that!)

The first council member went on “Well, I am not a Christian, and I think people of other faiths in this building could be offended. This is their home too, and we need to be respectful of that.”

I agree that we need to show respect. I'm not sure what faith perspective my friend has, but after we assured her that our décor would be festive but not overtly religious we set a date for decking the tree

I probably I shouldn’t have been surprised by a conversation like that, but I was. Perhaps it is because I take Christmas trees for granted and don’t consider them to be a “Christian” icon. To me they are just part of a Canadian Christmas, which is far more cultural than Christian. I don’t think all the malls and stores are decorated with a Christian motivation, and people don’t seem to be offended by all the lights and greenery. If they were, the stores sure wouldn’t do it – especially starting the day after Halloween!

But after thinking about it, maybe there was more to it than that. What’s the big deal with a tree in our lobby? Nothing, except that it might be seen by some as being Christian, and with our politically correct, inclusive mindsets, that should not be.

Here is the irony: being inclusive really means being exclusive. Everything is acceptable, except something Christian. That is the real world Canadian definition of ‘inclusive’. I have studied these kind of issues and talked about them, but to experience it kind of slaps you up the side of the head. Maybe I'm just being oversensative, and I sure don't want to join the "Christians as victims" club, but that's the way things seem to be.

I don’t think anyone would have a problem if we decorated for Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, or Ramadan. I know I wouldn’t. And no one says anything what about all the Chinese New Year festivities that go off with a big bang (literally) every year. To me, that is one of the neat things about living in Chinatown, even though all that drum banging can be very loud!

So tomorrow we decorate our ‘festive’ tree. We have invited anyone in the building who wants to come, especially children. Aileen and I are going to bring some apple cider and cookies, and make sure there is some Christmas music playing (but probably not carols!). Hopefully it will be a good opportunity to connect with people and build community. That, to me at least, is very Christmas, and very Christian. (But don’t tell anyone on council that I said so!)

Here is a link to an article on the meaning and origin of the Christmas tree. It is written from a Christian perspective, and I apologize in advance if you are offended…