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Old 11-30-2011, 11:37 AM
Low C Sharp Low C Sharp is offline
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Join Date: Jun 2007
Posts: 679
Quote:
Jewish families having a Christmas tree for the decor.....not so much.
A Jew or atheist having a Christmas tree is different from appropriating a religious ritual. There is no Christian tradition that mandates a Christmas tree. Heck, if there's a Christian tradition that even recommends a Christmas tree, I'd like to learn about it. Decorating one's house with fir boughs, candles, etc., as well as giving gifts and having a feast, was a pagan practice that long predates Christianity. A Christmas tree's historical, and to a large extent its modern, purpose is to be pretty and bring some light and warmth into the house during the winter solstice. It's different even from displaying a creche, with its explicit Christian meaning, and miles away from, say, holding a "mass" in your living room because you like the text and you think the wafers are cool (which would be disrespectful and offensive).

We generally don't find it weird for non-pagans to celebrate Halloween, or for non-Puritans to honor the first Thanksgiving, because those practices carry so much secular, cultural meaning. It doesn't bother me if people want to move huppas or smashing a glass into that space. I have a bigger problem with churches deciding to host "Seders" without Jewish leadership. That is appropriation, and making a parody of something others hold sacred. I'm not a fan of the trend of using Jews and their rituals as mascots to validate a false "Judeo-Christian" presentation. Christians who genuinely respect Jews and our traditions don't keep a Jewish Stepin Fetchit around to make a political point about how much they love Jews.
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