A New Jersey mayor has ditched the town’s “holiday tree” for a “Christmas tree.” In an interview with Fox and Friends , mayor David Fried of Robbinsville, NJ said he finally felt that all the political correctness had gone too far and “enough was enough”.
Back in 2007, due to complaints from citizens, the town changed the name of their Christmas tree lighting to a Holiday tree lighting. Keep in mind that they also light a large Menorah to honor their Jewish citizens. The push this year was to even remove the word “holiday” and simply make it a tree lighting ceremony. At that point, Fried was over the arguments .
“We can say we have a Menorah, a Jewish religious symbol, but for some reason we can’t call our tree what it is — a Christmas tree, which is not even a religious symbol,” Fried said in an open letter. “This is just not right, the tree is a symbol of the Christmas celebration.”
According to Fried, he has received mixed reactions from his strong stance in what Bill O’Reilly has called “ the war on Christmas .” There has been a lot of positive feedback in support of the mayor’s decision, even from Sweden. As expected, some folks are not happy, but the majority of citizens have been supportive.
The debate about whether stores and governments should use the word “Christmas” has been going on for several years now. Usually, headlines point us to the fact someone is switching from Christmas to holiday.
For this New Jersey mayor and his town, Christmas is a natural part of the season to be celebrated. If you visit Robbinsville, NJ this December, you are likely to hear “Merry Christmas” a lot more than “Happy Holidays.”
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