Harvard Student Joins Voices Protesting Boston's Renamed 'Holiday Tree'
by Jim Brown
December 1, 2005
(AgapePress) - - Christian students at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, are criticizing Christmas censorship that is happening in nearby Boston this year. Recently, the city officially renamed its Christmas tree in Boston Commons a "holiday tree" -- a move that has sparked outrage in Beantown and beyond.Christian leaders and pro-family advocates across the United States are disturbed by what appears to be yet another attempt to squelch expressions of Christian faith and to sever all religious meaning from the observance and celebration of Christmas. Criticism of the city's renaming of the Boston Commons Christmas tree is coming in from all over the nation, and Liberty University president Jerry Falwell has even threatened to file a lawsuit over the controversy.
Harvard University senior Philip Powell, a member of the school's Harvard-Radcliffe Christian Fellowship (HRCF), says he was amused at first by the city's political correctness, but soon he became disgusted. "Certainly what Harvard -- and, really the Boston area in general -- tries to do is call for a culture of understanding and mutual appreciation for various faiths, but it's really not what's happening here," he notes.
"Much more than appreciating the Christian faith here," Powell continues, "really, as ridiculous as it sounds, [the City of Boston] is trying to suppress it." Nevertheless, he is convinced that taking legal action is not the answer and says, "I really think it's something we need to fight on the grassroots [level]. We need to, as Christians, be involved in saying what it is we believe and being open with those around us in that regard."
Boston, for a city that purports to be tolerant of all religious faiths, is being extremely intolerant towards those who want to celebrate the traditional meaning of Christmas, the Harvard student observes. Still, he believes the battle against creeping secularism cannot be won judicially.
A much more effective approach to the problem, Powell asserts, would involve "talking to our friends, to our family members, to those around us in school or work settings about the importance of this issue, rather than raising it as an issue in the courts." The HRCF member maintains that Christians' prayers and individual efforts will do far more to win this battle than any court.
Jim Brown, a regular contributor to AgapePress, is a reporter for American Family Radio News, which can be heard online.
