Religion
No pagan trees for Christmas warriors
By Bill Berkowitz
Online Journal Contributing Writer


Dec 14, 2009, 00:22

Even though Tiger Woods� indiscretions, the ins and outs of health care reform, the climate change confab in Copenhagen, and Uganda�s anti-homosexual death panels are all topics for discussion these days, nothing tops the War on Christmas for some conservative Christian evangelical groups.

Here�s how Martha Boggs, the founder of Boss Creations, describes the sorry situation Christians have been facing during the first decade of the twenty-first century, and how she decided to combat it: �We have figured a way to enhance the tradition of decorating a tree for Jesus at Christmas by adding a cross that acts as a reminder of Him. By changing our tree to include a cross, we are making a statement that we want to keep our Christmas holiday! Our new tree and decorations ideas will not only help to enhance our celebration of the Christmas holiday but will help to enlighten those who may decorate for Christmas but may not be �Christians.��

And there you have it. The CHRIST-mas Tree. At the family-friendly price of $399.99.

Two longtime conservative Christian evangelical legal outfits engaged in the War on Christmas -- Liberty Counsel and ACLJ (American Center for Law and Justice) -- are two of the four other sites Boss Creations recommends. A portion of the proceeds of all �CHRIST-mas� Tree sales will go to support the American Center of Law & Justice, an organization recently hailed by Business Week as �the leading advocacy group for religious freedom,� as well as to the Liberty Counsel, a nonprofit litigation, education and policy organization dedicated to advancing religious freedom, the sanctity of human life and the traditional family.

Boss Creations would probably prefer you not think about how many toys you could contribute to Toys for Tots, how many meals you could provide at a church-sponsored soup kitchen, or how many bags of groceries you could donate to a Food Bank, for $399.99.

But my friends, allow me to ask this: Is a cross built into a phony tree really enough of a statement during a war? Shouldn�t there be something more? Something more authentic? Are the secularists winning when you settle for a cross in a tree?

Let me suggest something before Martha Boggs comes up with it.

How about attaching a person to the cross in the tree as a live ornament? That person need not be nailed to the cross; a little Velcro and a platform would make one�s stay not too unbearable. In fact it could become part of your holiday, er, Christmas tradition.