Julie with a B

Sunday, December 19, 2004
 
Those Christmas trees...
Ah, those public Christmas tree displays... And just for the fun of it, I'll pull the story from The Scotsman, a newspaper in, oh duh, Scotland, that brings up a very good point. Note that the Brits have no separation of church and state. The state church is the Church of England and the Queen is the head of it. Taken from a piece called "Heroes and Villains".
Villains: Florida killjoys
Officials in Pasco County, Florida, take the constitutional separation of church and state seriously. So seriously that the county attorney has insisted Christmas trees in public buildings must be taken down. Christmas trees, apparently, are a religious symbol.
However, which religion they are a symbol of isn't entirely clear. If anything, the good old Norway Spruce is a distinctly heathen symbol, although there is much poppycock about - such as the idea that the tree's triangular shape reflects the holy trinity. It is more likely that - being an evergreen - the tree was revered by pre-Christian cultures around the winter solstice as giving hope for the returning spring.
Presumably Pasco County workers get 25 December off every year. This itself must be a dangerous mingling of church and state and really ought to be stopped."
Why am I coming out on the FOR Christmas Trees side? Because, like the Scots, I think they are a secular symbol.

- posted by JulieB @ 7:59 AM
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