Christmas
Tree
Is it a Christian Symbol?
By John D. Turner
What is a Christian
symbol?
If asked this question, most people would
mention the cross, the most visible symbol of Christianity
worldwide. A close runner-up might be the fish, a symbol used by
early Christians.
The cross, of course, represents Christ’s
death on the cross; the atoning sacrifice he made for all of us,
that some day, we flawed humans might stand in the presence of God
the Father, forgiven of all our sins.
The fish represents the charge that Christ
gave Peter and Andrew in Matthew 4:19, when he told them “Follow me,
and I will make you fishers of men”. It was used in ancient times as
a secret recognition symbol between believers. It is used today, at
least here in the United States, as a recognition symbol to signify
that a particular person or business is either Christian, or
“Christian friendly”, and is seen frequently on automobiles and in
advertising on business cards or in the Yellow Pages of the phone
book.
But the Christmas tree? A Christian symbol? It
is, according to Rob Sherman, an atheist in Chicago.
Certainly, the Christmas tree is a symbol of
Christmas. And Christmas is, symbolically, a day set aside for the
celebration of the birth of Christ. But although the transitive
property might hold true for equality in mathematics, the fact that
the Christmas tree is symbolic of Christmas, and Christmas is the
celebration of the birth of Christ, does not mean that the Christmas
tree is therefore a Christian symbol.
Nor does it mean that the celebration of
Christmas as it is currently practiced in the United States and
other parts of the world, is limited to followers of Christ, or that
those who put up Christmas trees are celebrating the birth of
Christ.
Christmas is a rather interesting holiday.
Celebrations similar to what we have now have been around for over
4000 years, centered around the winter solstice. These celebrations
were marked by the giving of gifts, carnivals and parades,
decorations of greenery and the burning of bonfires. The most
well-known of these was the Roman festival of Saturnalia, honoring
the Roman god Saturn, running from 17-24 December.
Celebration of Christ’s birth dates back to
around 98 A.D. Originally, it was celebrated on January 6th.
The early Christian church considered
Saturnalia an abomination as a celebration of a pagan deity, and
forbade its followers from participation. Since most of its converts
came from this tradition, however, this proved impossible to
enforce. Church leaders finally decided instead to co-opt this and
other pagan celebrations, in essence, “converting” them to Christian
celebrations and purposes. The 25th of December was officially
declared the observance date of the birth of Christ by the Bishop of
Rome in 350 A.D., and the earliest English mention of December 25th
as Christmas Day dates to 1043.
There has from the first, been an uneasy
coexistence between the solemn celebration of the birth of Christ,
and the ostentatious displays and traditions common to the pagan
roots of this holiday. Criticism has resurfaced in modern times due
to the excessive commercialism that has sprung up around the
celebration of Christmas, with emphasis put more on the buying and
giving of presents than reverence for the birth of the Son of God.
Indeed, the Christmas season is a “make or break” time for many
businesses, with sales during the period from Thanksgiving to
Christmas being the deciding factor in whether they will have a
successful financial year. An argument could be made that the
secularists are co-opting the religious holiday much as the
Christians originally did from the pagans.
So how does the Christmas tree come into play
here as a Christian symbol?
It all starts with a recycling program in the
city of Chicago. In order to increase patronage of its Blue Bag
recycling program, the City of Chicago decided to offer a year’s
worth of blue bags and some mulch to anyone who turned in a used
Christmas tree. This would have several beneficial effects. It would
get old Christmas trees to recycling centers, where they could be
turned into mulch instead of putting them into the public landfill,
and it would get more people enrolled as it were into their
recycling program. This seemed a win-win for all concerned.
Not so, Mr. Sherman, who complained that the
program unfairly benefited Christians at the expense of atheists
such as himself, and other non-Christians, who would have to pay for
their blue bags.
There is no rule that states that Mr. Sherman
or anyone else has to prove that they purchased the tree they bring
in. The only requirement is to bring in a discarded Christmas tree.
Mr. Sherman contends, however, that “atheists shouldn’t have to go
begging from home to home for a Christian who will sponsor them into
this kind of government program”.
Nobody is forcing Mr. Sherman to beg from
Christians. He could probably pick up a used tree from just about
any street corner. I doubt anyone would care, although he would
probably consider this “trash picking” and also beneath the dignity
of any self-respecting atheist. I wonder if he considers picking up
discarded aluminum cans for recycling to be beneath his dignity as
well.
Mr. Sherman’s argument also presumes that only
Christians put up Christmas trees, which is of course, not true. Mr.
Sherman argues that while some non-Christians may put up trees, the
majority who do so are in fact Christians and so this benefits them
unfairly.
One would indeed expect this to be true, since
polls show that the majority of Americans, some 80%, identify
themselves as Christian. Thus, in almost any endeavor involving a
cross-section of society, one would expect to see more Christians
involved than non-Christians. This does not mean that non-Christians
do not participate in Christmas festivities, to include the erection
of a Christmas tree. The purpose of a Christmas tree is to put
Christmas presents under, not to celebrate Christ’s birth. Santa
Claus was not present at the blessed event, nor were his elves. The
two are separate events, which happen to be performed on the same
day. The Christmas tree is not a Christian symbol.
Which means that erecting a Christmas tree has
nothing to do with worshiping Christ. It is not an element of
Christianity, and can be performed by anyone, even an atheist,
without invoking Christ in the slightest. There is no requirement
that religious symbols common to Christianity, such as angels or
crosses, be placed upon it. Indeed, I have witnessed many “secular”
Christmas trees with no religious decorations adorning them.
The Christmas tree is not a Christian symbol,
any more than are Santa Claus, Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer, or
Frosty the Snowman, all of which could be argued are symbols of
Christmas, at least here in America.
Mr. Sherman states that “no self-respecting
atheist or Jew or Hindu puts up a Christmas tree in their homes
unless they are Christian wannabes”. Well, that’s his opinion, and
he is certainly entitled to it, but that doesn’t make it fact. And
it shouldn’t have any effect on Chicago’s Blue Bag recycling program
either.
But this is America in the 21st century,
politically-correct, and ever afraid of lawsuits brought by the ACLU
and others of like mind. So Chicago changed its program, the intent
of which was to get unwanted Christmas trees off the street and out
of the landfill. The city now will offer free blue bags to anyone
who comes to one of their tree-recycling locations on January 8 and
brings a large bag of recyclable material. It doesn’t say how large
a bag you need to qualify, and they would still prefer trees.
Aluminum cans don’t mulch too well.
All this because of one atheist, Mr. Sherman,
who thinks that Christmas trees are a Christian symbol, and who, it
turns out, doesn’t even live in Chicago.
By this logic, I would have to suppose that
the Easter Bunny, too, is a Christian symbol. Will the White House
Easter egg hunt be the next victim of the “eradicate all things
Christian” crowd?
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