Muslim leader defends Christmas tree

TORONTO, Canada (UPI) -- A Canadian Muslim leader, along with Ontario`s Premier and several religious groups, yesterday criticized a provincial judge`s decision to banish the Christmas tree in a Toronto courthouse lobby because it might offend non-Christians. 'It`s so stupid, I`m at a loss for words,' said Tarek Fatah, founder of the Muslim Canadian Congress, the National Post reported.

'The judge should take a trip to the rest of the world. Christmas is celebrated by Muslims in many countries -- they should ban political correctness, not Christmas trees. If people are offended [by a Christmas tree], I`m glad they`re offended,' he added.

The MCC issued a press release calling on Muslims to 'celebrate Christmas with their Christian cousins and light up Christmas trees to send a message to the Ontario judge that she is wrong on all counts.'

Ron Banerjee, spokesman for the Hindu Conference of Canada, said 'Hindus would be highly upset if another group infringed on our right to put up Hindu symbols in public. I think it`s important that political correctness not be taken too far so that we`re being crazy about it.'

Premier Dalton McGuinty called the move a 'misunderstanding' of the significance of having such a multicultural province. 'We enjoy the wonderful privilege of building a pluralistic, multicultural society,' he told reporters, noting that Queen`s Park, where there are Christmas trees aplenty this time of year, also celebrates Jewish, Muslim, Hindu and other traditions.

The backlash comes after Justice Marion Cohen ordered a Christmas tree at the Ontario Court of Justice be relocated to a back hallway behind frosted glass doors -- near the family court desk where the door is adorned with a Santa Claus poster. Judge Cohen defended the relocation in a letter to staff this week, which acknowledged people are 'upset' with the decision.

'I am aware the Christmas tree has been placed in the front lobby at Christmas time for many years,' the letter said. 'I do not think it appropriate that when the clients of our court enter our courthouse, the first thing they see is a Christian symbol.

The message to the many non- Christians, who attend our court and are confronted with this symbol, is that they are not part of this institution. It does not belong to them. They are different.'

It is unclear if the move was sparked by complaints, and Judge Cohen declined to take questions.

I've been thinking about this issue and have come to the conclusion that this is nothing but a mixed up mess for both true and 'in name only' Christians alike as well as the out and out acknowledged non-Christians. It's a smoke screen that if it was even possible to clear would reveal nothing but even worse confusion beneath the surface - nothing surprising there since most people everywhere don't really have a very good understanding of their own faith. Let's start with the basics..... does a Christmas tree REALLY have anything to do with Christianity? Well......it might be easy to say yes to that since Christmas trees get put up at Christmas time and Christmas time is the time to celebrate Christ's birth but..... that doesn't really make it 'Christian' per se.

And further…..were Christmas trees mentioned in the Bible? Does it come up somewhere in the writings of Paul where he expounds on the makeup of a New Testament church? How about an even more basic question - are Christians even commanded to celebrate Christ's birth? Go check.... the answer to those questions is no, no and no – and with regards to the last question in particular, we ARE commanded to 'remember his death' but there is no reference to celebrating his birth at all…. and a good definition of a Christian is that he/she is a ‘follower of the teachings of Jesus Christ’ – no more and no less. Therefore if the people who call themselves Christians get all up and excited about Christmas trees ……and Christmas trees have nothing to do with Christianity, are those people really Christians? Or are they off on a tangent – perhaps worshiping a God and religion of their own creation, something perverted and totally outside of what the Bible teaches, perhaps even a cult – one that they even have the nerve to call Christianity? If you think that this is somewhat inflammatory or at least an exaggeration, understand that there is a great deal of evangelical Christianity that feels exactly this way - perhaps not so much today but this was the prevailing view amongst this group not so many decades ago. For these people, the Christmas tree used to be regarded as a symbol of the rather worldly and commercial influence of a group who were intent on perverting the true faith – by introducing elements into it that had nothing to do with Christianity or why Christ came into the world…….Christmas trees are the symbol of something evil! I don’t think that it can be argued that the focus has shifted – attention at this time of year is on the holiday associated with the birth of Christ, shopping, Christmas trees, Santa Clause and gifts………instead of the New Testament focus that Jesus Christ is the son of God, born of a virgin, brought into the world for the sole purpose that he could die and be the perfect sacrifice without blemish for sinful mankind …… and all that recognize their sinful nature, repent and believe on him will be saved from the eternal punishment which is the lake of fire called hell. If you think that the view concerning Christmas trees has not shifted over the years, do a little bit of basic research and talk to some old-timers in some of the more fundamentalist evangelical churches – ask them if their churches would even consider putting up a Christmas tree inside their church walls back in the 1940s, the 1950s and so on……..and why the view was held. Nowadays, it is not uncommon to see a Christmas tree put up even inside an evangelical church – but for these churches, I bet you will find that this is a relatively recent thing…….and so what you have today is the acceptance of something that only a scant few years ago was regarded as absolutely wrong and in the creeping nature of such things, it is now being defended when someone tries to take it away……because it has become a symbol of Christianity.

So what we have in this article is the story of a Christmas tree (sort of a recently accepted symbol of Christianity but having nothing to do with scripture or true Christianity) being taken down by a person of unknown faith who has based the decision on nothing more than a political correctness view of the culture, criticized by Christians (who have who knows what level of grasp of the truth of their faith) …… but out of it all, the strongest argument that it should not have been taken down is coming from a non-Christian......and all the 'Christians' are happy that a non-Christian has taken this initiative. Isn't that about it?

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