A branch of the Dedham, Massachusetts library decided not to put up a Christmas tree this year because it made some people “uncomfortable.” This has led to an acrimonious controversy which several news outlets have covered.
- Boston.com (Boston Globe)
- WCVB
- NBC Boston
- New York Post
The situation goes to show how violently hostile people become over minor issues. More specific to this blog, it shows the kind of pressure libraries come under with increasing frequency.
The situation started when the library announced it wouldn’t put up a Christmas tree because it made some people “uncomfortable.” That’s already bad. Some of us overdose on Christmas; I once wouldn’t let my dentist start a multi-hour procedure on me till he turned off the Christmas music. But an evergreen tree (almost certainly an artificial one) is pretty harmless as things go.
A Christmas tree is NOT a religious symbol. People have used evergreen things to celebrate their survival through the winter for ages, probably since Paleolithic times. Trees at Christmas became popular in sixteenth-century Germany (there’s one in The Magic Battery), but there’s no particular connection between a fir tree and Jesus.
A passage in Jeremiah, Chapter 10, seems to argue against putting up a tree: “Thus saith the Lord, Learn not the way of the heathen, and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven; for the heathen are dismayed at them. For the customs of the people are vain: for one cutteth a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman, with the axe. They deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it move not.” So maybe Christmas trees are as Christian as Black Friday sales.
It’s just a green thing in winter, not an idol to bow to, yet town officials found it necessary to issue a statement:
The Town of Dedham stands in support of all town staff targeted by recent online threats and bullying. Unfortunately, a recent social media post expressing disagreement with the decision to display a holiday tree at the library has quickly evolved into a polarized environment and has led to the harassment and bullying of town employees,” the statement from the Town of Dedham reads. “We wholeheartedly condemn this behavior as it tears at the fabric of our community and cannot be tolerated.
The part about “the decision to display a holiday tree” confuses me; I thought the decision was not to display one. Did the library reverse the decision? Did a “not” get lost? I don’t know. Update: The library is now saying it is putting up Christmas trees in both of the town’s libraries.
A former member of the Dedham Human Rights Committee sent a curse-laden post. This person has since been kicked off the committee. I’ve linked to an image of the post, captured from Facebook and with the author’s name blanked out. Some choice quotes from the rant, addressed to the branch supervisor who announced the decision:
“F*** YOU. You knew what you were doing. You spent days batting aside the people who asked you to ratchet this back.”
“You have put people’s lives in danger. A LOT of danger. For a m***f***ing Christmas tree.” [Sounds like a threat to me.]
“You’re trash. You are f***ing trash.”
“I hope the fact that you — who claim to believe in Christ and Christmas or whatever happy horses**t you’re trying to hide behind — are the least gracious, most hateful, most disgusting trash in the world. Is this what you think your magic sky daddy wants?”
“I hate each and everyone of you and I do wish great suffering on you.”
You get the idea.
If the library had put up a manger scene, that would be a reason for some hard questions, though even that could be legitimate as part of a broader display of religious customs. But when people engage in curses and veiled threats over a tree, it only demonstrates their desire to control other people’s thinking.
Update, December 15: While the much-cited “put people’s lives in danger” quote came from the secular side, a bunch of Christian fanatics didn’t do much better. At a “public meeting” of unspecified nature, they poured out their “war on Christmas” gibberish. One woman ominously said, “These people now are watching you. They’re not going to put up with it anymore.” Another wailed, “Why do you hate Christians so much?” Their faith is so weak that the absence of a decorated artificial tree in a public library is enough to bring it crashing down.
Perhaps you need to read down another verse or two. As a comparison, a tree was used in place of idols over God.
I generally prefer that people give a name when commenting, but I decided to allow this one. It’s tangential to the library issue but touches on some interesting subjects.
The Hebrews had a strong aversion to objects as symbols of the divine. Hence the prohibition on graven images. They tended to assume that when other nations used such symbols, they worshipped the symbols themselves. This was considered idolatry. Some digging turns up discussion of alleged tree worship both within Hebrew culture and in neighboring cultures. It looks to me more like regarding certain types of trees as sacred to God, which isn’t the same as idolatry. In any case, the priesthood tried to stamp out these practices, and it looks as if that’s what Jeremiah is denouncing. He assures his audience that the decorated trees can’t talk or do anything, just in case they thought otherwise.
It’s plausible to me that Jeremiah would have had similar objections to using fir trees, especially when mounted and decorated, as an element of religious practice. But that’s moot, because I’m not aware of anyone who does. Sticking angels and such on one is optional, depending on your beliefs and preferences. (Hillary Clinton took quite a different approach.) At one time the tree was sometimes said to symbolize the one in the Garden of Eden, but does anyone care about that anymore? The trees just look nice and remind people that there are still things growing green, even late in December. I don’t know if Jeremiah would have objected to decorating a tree as such because it suggested heathenism, but I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt.
So that brings me back to my original point: Regarding a Christmas tree as an establishment of religion is silly.