Slip sliding away...
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By Jason Szep

BOSTON (Reuters) - Boston set off a furor (http://today.reuters.com/news/newsarticle.aspx?type=domesticNews&storyid=2005-11-25T225326Z_01_KRA582362_RTRUKOC_0_US-LIFE-TREE.xml&rpc=22) this week when it officially renamed a giant tree erected in a city park a "holiday tree" instead of a "Christmas tree."

The move drew an angry response from Christian conservatives, including evangelist Jerry Falwell who heckled Boston officials and pressed the city to change the name back.

"There's been a concerted effort to steal Christmas," Falwell told Fox Television.

The Nova Scotia logger who cut down the 48-foot (14-meter) tree was indignant and said he would not have donated the tree if he had known of the name change.

"I'd have cut it down and put it through the chipper," Donnie Hatt told a Canadian newspaper. "If they decide it should be a holiday tree, I'll tell them to send it back. If it was a holiday tree, you might as well put it up at Easter."

Falwell and the conservative Liberty Counsel led a campaign that threatened to sue anyone who spreads what they see as misinformation about Christmas celebrations in public spaces.

The controversy reflects the legal vulnerability of city and state governments over taxpayer-funded displays of religious icons and concern over crossing the line in the separation between church and state.

Last year, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger lit what he called a "Christmas tree" at a state ceremony. The year before, he and former California Gov. Gray Davis presided over ceremonies for the more secular "holiday trees."

In Boston, many residents voiced their dismay over the Web site that promotes a December 1 ceremony for "Boston's Official Holiday Tree Lighting."

Christmas has become too politically correct, said 64 percent of people who responded to an online poll by a CBS television affiliate in Boston.

Boston Mayor Thomas Menino said he would keep calling the Nova Scotia spruce a "Christmas tree" regardless of what it said on the city's official Web site.

"I grew up with a Christmas tree, I'm going to stay with a Christmas tree," Menino told reporters on Thursday.

But the controversy cast a pall over a long-standing tradition between Boston and Canada. Nova Scotia donates a tree each year to Boston in gratitude for the city's help after an explosion killed about 1,900 people and injured 4,000 others in Halifax in 1917.

That is sad when a tradition gets renamed something else. Nova Scotia should stop sending a tree to Boston, what the Boston city council did was a slap in the face when they renamed it a hoilday tree instead of calling it a Christmas Tree!!

They just cant leave well enough alone can they? Whats next, the closing of the national basilica because its too close to the capitol?

Guess were all getting Holiday presents on the 25th this year, eh?

I've mailed the President (like Im going to get a response there, but), my congressman (already got a good response from him).

I think we need to put down the ACLU types who would see everything Christian or traditional in America destroyed. And this is a aethist talking!

Do you live there? OH WAIT no...you don't.

It's not a federal government choosing how and or what to call the tree, so why do you all care. If the people in Boston don't like it they'll vote the politicians out, just like the school board in PA that got voted out for putting 'intelligent' design on the curriculum.

Do you live there? OH WAIT no...you don't.

It's not a federal government choosing how and or what to call the tree, so why do you all care. If the people in Boston don't like it they'll vote the politicians out, just like the school board in PA that got voted out for putting 'intelligent' design on the curriculum.


Hmmm...last I checked, Boston is part of the United States, and yes, I do live there.

The Holiday has a name. It's called Christmas. Get over it.

Lol.... That story is ridiculous and anyone getting up and arms over the naming of a tree is ridiculous. Ask yourself this, would Jesus care if a tree with lights was named after/for him?

Interesting how SOME traditions are okay to ban because they offend people(like Christmas or Creation taught in schools or "In God We Trust" or school prayer ), while others (like Roe v. Wade or evolution taught in schools) are NOT okay to ban because they offend people.

What hypocrisy.

Interesting how SOME traditions are okay to ban because they offend people(like Christmas or Creation taught in schools or "In God We Trust" or school prayer ), while others (like Roe v. Wade or evolution taught in schools) are NOT okay to ban because they offend people.

What hypocrisy.

No one is banning Christmas for Christ sake. One city wanted to rename a tree to the Holiday tree, the sky isn't falling, relax. If the majority of the people in that city do not want it, they will take the proper action. Creation can still be taught; it is taught in churches and at home if you like or in some private schools, just can't be taught in public schools because of its religious origins. Not all children in public schools are Christians.

No one is banning Christmas for Christ sake. One city wanted to rename a tree to the Holiday tree, the sky isn't falling, relax. If the majority of the people in that city do not want it, they will take the proper action. Creation can still be taught; it is taught in churches and at home if you like or in some private schools, just can't be taught in public schools because of its religious origins. Not all children in public schools are Christians.

Your whole statement totally ignores the title of this thread.