Quote:
Originally Posted by Sparks
Where do you draw the line? There are probably thousands of different religions/beliefs in this country. And what about people who are atheist?
It's in the Old Testament, but the New Testament takes prescedence for Christians, and it says:
So, no, it's not Christian-like.
Man, I'm not even religious and I'm posting Bible verses.  That one's a pet peeve of mine, though, since it's so often misinterpreted. |
It's not the only one either. The Christian right in the U.S. has moved toward a far more judgemental and fundamentalist piety over the past 20 years. Their selective use of the bible to justify a hateful ideology that Christ would have found quite strange is shameful to say the least.
As for the issue of Christmas trees in courtrooms, I guess I don't care very much either way. But inasmuch as I do care, I would ask: what's the purpose of a Christmas tree in a courtroom anyway? To make it seem more festive? That doesn't seem appropriate. To make it smell nice? That's just silly.
It's a place of business--and whether people are offended by it is to me less important than the fact that putting a Christmas tree in a courtroom makes it seem like the break room at your office. It doesn't seem to me like it strikes the right tone for a courtroom. And if it really is a religious symbol, it has no place there.
One poster (can't remember who) commented that the jurisprudence of Canada and the U.S. is "based on Christian values." This is utter nonsense, especially in the case of the U.S., which was founded on secular enlightenment values, by men who were in a few cases not even Christians themselves. The fact that both models share certain dicta, such as "don't kill people" and "don't steal" does not mean that our law is based in Mosaic law--those are just good rules to build a society on. They're not specific to a single religious practice.
To me, this whole "war on Christmas controversy" is an argument that only one side cares about anyway. I say "Merry Christmas" to people all the time--not all of them are Christians, either. Not a single person has been offended yet. The war on Christmas is essentially an invention of Bill O'Reilly that is bleeding into the real world. If we all take a deep breath and relax, I'm pretty sure it will just go away.