PROVIDENCE, R.I. ? Rhode Island Gov. Lincoln Chafee unwrapped a Christmas conundrum when he erected a "holiday" tree in the Statehouse, incensing the Roman Catholic Church, many residents and even the tree farmer who donated the 17-foot-tall spruce.
The holiday hubbub comes to a head Tuesday evening when Chafee presides over a tree-lighting celebration at the Statehouse. The event will feature Santa Claus, a gingerbread house, examples of "holiday" trees worldwide and a specially decorated tree honoring members of the military.
In protest of Chafee's secular spruce, a Republican state lawmaker plans to light a Christmas tree an hour later at her office. The Catholic diocese will host its own Christmas tree lighting just up the street.
Local talk radio host John DePetro of WPRO has taken to calling Chafee "Gov. Grinch" and is urging listeners to crash the holiday tree lighting while singing "O Christmas Tree."
Chafee, an independent, insists he's simply honoring Rhode Island's origins as a sanctuary for religious diversity. Religious dissident Roger Williams founded Rhode Island in 1636 as a haven for tolerance, where government and religion would forever be kept separate. Chafee also notes previous governors have used the term "holiday" tree.
"Use of the term `holiday tree' is a continuation of past practice, and does not represent a change of course on my part," he said in a statement.
Squabbles over nativity scenes and trees have become a regular occurrence, though the first shots in the so-called War on Christmas were fired long ago. The controversy highlights a very old tension between the holiday's Christian roots and its even older, non-Christian traditions, according to Stephen Nissenbaum, a professor emeritus of history at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst and the author of "The Battle for Christmas."
Nissenbaum says early Christian leaders wouldn't recognize the holiday celebrated on Dec. 25, which for centuries was a minor item on the church calendar. Reindeer, Santa Claus, `round-the-clock shopping and poinsettias all came much later.
The tradition of Christmas trees was brought to America in the 1830s by German immigrants who were carrying on a centuries-old practice from their homeland, Nissenbaum said, though the use of evergreens and candles or bonfires in winter holidays dates back to pre-Christian Europe.
The Puritan leaders of 17th century Massachusetts actually outlawed the celebration of Christmas for several years because they didn't like the ostentatious celebration of what they saw as a minor holiday.
"I don't think Christmas has ever been a settled tradition," Nissenbaum said. "We always look back to the days when Christmas was pure and simple and it never was."
Chafee's attempts to diffuse the controversy have so far backfired. He encouraged his critics to use their "energy and enthusiasm to make a positive difference in the lives of their fellow Rhode Islanders."
Instead, his office received 3,500 calls of protest, with all but 700 coming from out of state. According to a tally by Chafee's spokeswoman, his office received only 92 calls supporting his choice of words.
Bishop Thomas Tobin, head of the Roman Catholic Church in Providence, said the governor's decision to call it a holiday tree was "most disheartening and divisive." The diocese said it would hold a competing lighting ? of a Christmas tree, naturally ? at a parish a block from the Statehouse.
Timothy Reilly, chancellor of the Providence diocese, said Chafee was probably motivated by a laudable desire to reach out to people of all faiths. But Reilly noted that Chafee isn't being consistent: A Jewish Menorah in the Statehouse hasn't been renamed. He said the controversy should prompt Christians to contemplate the holiday's true meaning.
"He probably had the best of intentions but somewhere, somehow we lost hold of the true meaning of the season," Reilly said. "It's all about the baby Jesus. We tend to almost forget this."
But by citing Roger Williams, Chafee is upholding Rhode Island's status as one of the first secular governments in the modern world, according to Barry Lynn, executive director of Americans United for the Separation of Church and State.
"Rhode Island is Roger Williams country," Lynn said. "He was one of the great champions of religious freedom and diversity in our history. There is no war against Christianity. We have a dizzying level of religious freedom in America, and Roger Williams did a lot to make it that way."
The state House of Representatives in January passed a symbolic resolution declaring that the tree traditionally put up at this time of year be referred to "as a `Christmas tree' and not as a `holiday tree' or other non-traditional terms."
Republican Rep. Doreen Costa of North Kingstown, the resolution's sponsor, has said she intends to erect and decorate her own Christmas tree in her office.
"Political correctness has gone too far," Costa said. "I don't care what he calls it. Anyone who looks at it knows it's a Christmas tree. That's just what it is."
John Leyden of Big John Leyden's Christmas Tree Farm, which donated the 17-foot Colorado blue spruce to the state, agrees. Leyden told The Associated Press that Chafee can call the tree whatever he wants, but that doesn't change its significance.
"Why minimize Christmas?" he asked. "That's why we have these trees to begin with."
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