State-Journal.com - Politically correct Christmas tree shakes some limbs

Photo By Hilly SchifferGov.-elect Steve Beshear, with his wife Jane, and Gov. Ernie Fletcher, with first lady Glenna Fletcher, light the capitol Christmas tree together on Dec. 3, 2007. It was called the Christmas tree under Fletcher’s administration but has become the holiday tree under Beshear’s.

Gov. Steve Beshear has angered some Christians with his yuletide terminology.

A giant evergreen that will brighten the Capitol lawn this winter won’t be called a Christmas tree. Instead, the Beshear administration has dubbed it a “holiday tree.”

The Rev. Jeff Fugate, pastor of Clays Mill Baptist Church in Lexington, said Christians find the change troubling.

“If you call it a holiday tree,” Fugate asked, “which holiday are you talking about? We don’t put up a holiday tree for Easter or New Year’s or Thanksgiving. We put a tree up for Christmas.”

Beshear administration spokeswoman Cindy Lanham said the tree will be in celebration of a variety of winter holidays, including Christmas and Hanukkah.

“This is a special time of the year for many Kentuckians,” she said.

The spat in Kentucky is only the latest in an ongoing Christmas debate. Some retailers, including Walmart, have returned to greeting customers with “Merry Christmas” after coming under attack for directing employees to say “Happy Holidays.”

In Kentucky, political foes are using the issue to bash the Democratic governor and his administration.

“Steve Beshear in his continued swing to the left shows that political correctness is more important than Kentucky values,” said Republican Senate President David Williams of Burkesville. “It is difficult to see how anyone could take offense at the cherished tradition of Christmas at the Kentucky Capitol.”

Beshear spokeswoman Jill Midkiff said the terminology is intended to be inclusive.

“Obviously, to Governor Beshear and the first lady, who are both Christians, it is certainly a Christmas tree,” Midkiff said. “What is important is to remember what this time of year is all about — family and caring for those less fortunate.”

Using the term “holiday tree” typically is intended to avoid offending people who are not Christian, said Paul Simmons, an ethics professor at the University of Louisville. And he said “holiday tree” is the more fitting description, considering the tradition started out among pagans and was later blended into the Christian celebration of Christmas.

“It really is a more generalizable symbol,” Simmons said.

The Beshear administration sent out a public call on Monday for Kentuckians who think they might have the perfect “holiday tree” to consider donating it to the state. The solicitation called for a pyramid-shaped tree between 35 and 50 feet tall.

Sounds like a Christmas tree to Martin Cothran, spokesman for the Family Foundation of Kentucky.

“It’s the administration that stole Christmas,” Cothran said. “I think their heart is two sizes too small,” he said, quoting a line from How The Grinch Stole Christmas.

Fugate said he believes the Beshear administration has caved to political pressure.

“What’s bothersome about this is that it’s not the majority opinion,” Fugate said. “There is a groundswell of Americans who are fed up.”

175.	Posted by yiya0424 November 7, 2009
	I'm a Christian and as far as I'm concerned, I don't care what they call the tree. Just as long as they don't try to take the Christ out of Christmas. There's too much concern over what doesn't matter. This is a celebration of Christ, ya know Jesus, the man that died on the cross for our sins, in order for each of us to be saved and be able to have everlasting life... You know that guy. Not a tree, not "Santa Claus", not a Christmas/Holiday Tree", none of that. Who really cares, Why should you even care. How about this year we have a Christmas Clock that says "Happy Birthday Jesus". We certainly can't take the Christ out of that. But I'm sure they'll be some pencil pushing blah, blah blah, that will say hey separation of church and state and all that Jazz. But the truth is, Christmas, is the Mass of Christ, a celebration of his life and we are given a holiday in each and every state to celebrate. Stop picking and choosing how and when you want to Celebrate Jesus. I personally believe that if you want to make it an issue of government, then we should have off for Rhamadan (spelling?), and Yom Kippur (sp) as well, and be paid for it. That should keep it fair and equal.

173.	Posted by Misty Sunrise November 5, 2009
	ellie, thank you for your explanation. Now I understand your feelings about Christians. I want to share something with you that may help you or may anger you. It is your choice to make which one this 'sharing' does for you. First off, God gave man and woman freedom of choice. We as humans are free to choose how we live, what we do, what we believe, and so on. God wants us to love Him of our own free will. In the beginning of the Christian faith movement many centuries ago, people were called Christian because the people who followed Christ's teachings. Jesus taught love and forgiveness, how to be closer to God and truth about what God wants of us as a people. Then the inevitable happened, as it always does. MAN intruded into the teachings and decided to FORCE 'God's' will upon the people. God didn't do this, man did. It was men who began the persecutions of other peoples. Men who had power and had corrupted the teachings of Jesus and God. Men are the culprits that hunted down those who didn't 'believe the correct way'. Man was the one who created 'religion.' Now, fast forward into the present. Many, and I mean many, Christians today do not hold the same views as past Christians did. We know that God loves us and wants us to choose what is right and what is wrong, not in man's eyes, but in His eyes. Jesus told us to 'test' others who claim to be followers of Christ to make sure that we are following one of His disciples and not a false teacher. How do we test someone who claims to be a teacher of Christ? We read the Bible, look into their past, see where they stand on issues in accordance with what the Bible says. If just one of these things don't mesh, this is a person we should not follow. I was taught that 'fear of the Lord' meant fear of retribution if I didn't do the right thing. As a child I was always afraid of doing the wrong thing and being condemned to hell for all eternity. I wasn't taught about God's grace and love. I wasn't taught how to pray for forgiveness. I wasn't taught that God loves us and wants us with Him. It was after I became an adult that I learned what the Bible meant by 'fear the Lord, your God.' 'Fear the Lord' means to live in awe of what the Lord can do. He gives us wonderful things to help us with our day to day living. He gives us indescribable sunrises and sunsets. He gives us hope and love. Fear of the Lord means an attitude of devotion, reverence, dependence, and humility before God, is the beginning of wisdom, knowledge, and understanding, brings with it riches, healing, honor, and life. Religion is has rules that set the guidelines of human behavior within a certain 'sect' of said 'religion'. The problem with Rules that have to be followed is that they are no help in themselves, they are no better than a Speed Limit that only reminds those who are breaking it that they are doing so. It is much better to have faith, trust and belief in God, than to follow man's rules on how to worship God. God lets us know how to worship Him in the Bible. So, ellie, my suggestion is for you to read the Bible and see what God's word says about how HE wants you to live. It may be enlightening to you, or even encouraging. A person can be a follower of Christ and still not be a persecutor of other peoples. We can love the sinner, just not the sin. One last word, dear, it is all your choice, not man's, on what and how you believe. I've tried not to be judgmental in my post to you and hope I have inspired thought and not angst in you. Think about what I've posted and study for yourself to see if I've been accurate. If you feel I haven't been, then show me my errors and I'll study and see where I have been wrong. God be with you, dear. He want you, but He won't force you.

172.	Posted by ellie November 5, 2009
	melli, I can tell you exactly what happened to make me feel the way I do. I was raised in a Disciples of Christ Christian church and taught that the only way to God is to go through Jesus. And if I didn't believe that Jesus is the only way, then I'm going to spend my eternity in the fiery pits of hell. They said God and Jesus were the same entity. They convinced me that God gets angry if I don't do what they say he said I'm supposed to do and he will punish me accordingly if I break the rules. God, a "HE'. Eve, the woman, the original sinner... made to serve Adam. Fear, melli, that's mostly what they taught me. Do and believe exactly what we say or your doomed. That, and woman comes second to man. At a very young age, so much just didn't add up. Since my family and friends (and their family and friends) all went to church and said they believed it, I went along with the crowd. Questions to elders were met with disdain... I shouldn't ask questions like that. Of course, I continued to ask questions... eventually to people of other faiths, people of no particular faith, people of no faith. I learned many things... and very many of those things were in direct conflict with what I was being taught. Basically, I was being taught that my religion had it right and everyone else had it wrong. Not only were they factually wrong, but heretics, as well. This felt deeply wrong to me. I found that all of them had valuable things to offer, but none of them had it exactly right. The one that seemed the most wrong to me was the one I belonged to - Christianity, because that was the one that I knew the most about. Breaking free from the crowd, the church, was very traumatic for me... the fear was overwhelming at times. Fear of God, fear of how my family, friends... of how the crowd would react. My fear dissolved the day it dawned on me that God and fear are incompatible. God is not human and doesn't have, nor inflict human emotions such as anger, fear, judgment, guilt, jealousy, hate. The most succinct word I can use for God is love. Yes, love is a human emotion but I think love is more than just an emotion... love is the closest word we have to describe our connection to the Divine, to God. When I was a child, all over the Sunday school rooms they had these little poster things that said "God is Love". I think God really IS love. To live each moment with love in our hearts is to live each moment with God in our hearts. If you don't believe what I believe, I don't think nor teach that you're going to 'go to hell' for it. If I don't believe what you/Christians believe, I'm doomed. It doesn't add up. So what I have not resolved, melli, is my own anger with the institution of Christianity and subsequently, Christians, as they still hold tightly to this perceived superiority, and I think what Christianity teaches is the epitome of intolerance. It's meant to divide and I just don't know how to be tolerant of intolerance. And because Christians are the majority, they feel entitled to their tyranny over the minority. Tyrannous in their attitudes, and sometimes laws of the land which directly affect me and people who are dear to me. Love is the antidote to my anger, but sometimes I have a hard time feeling the love. I'm working on it.