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Personally, I think it depends on how public your office is, and the majority faith that is represented,,,,,,,as well as the private spaces and the people represented. (the employees)
What I mean by that is this,,,,I work in a hotel,,,,,we have a very public lobby. The majority faith in the area is Christianity,,,,,,,,I have no problems with Christmas decorations there in the public lobby, since the MAJORITY of the people coming IN to the lobby are Christians,,,,,We also have private space, offices, etc,,,,,,everyone may decorate his desk/work area as fits his personal beliefs.I have a Menorah on my desk. If we had any pagans, they might have Yule decorations,,,, It would, however, cost a fortune for the owners to EQUALLY decorate the public space for every single December holiday,,,,I simply don't expect the owners to do this,,,,,If there was a greater number of Jews or Pagans in the area, well then it might make more sense,,,
In some Jewish areas of NY or Miami, it would be ludicrous, I'd think, to use soley Christmas decorations, for the very same reason,,,,,,,
If the office is NOT public, but very private instead, I think you must consider the people working there in the office,,,how many Christians? How many Jews? How many Pagans? I have seen beautiful offices with MANY a variety of decorations,,,and they were all beautiful.
Having said that, I once worked in an office of soley Christians,,,,when the boss found out that I was NOT a Christian, but was converting to Judaism, he went out and purchased a relativley inexpensive electric Menorah. That item might have cost 20.00,,,,,,but how it made me feel was priceless.
Holly
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[QUOTE=rottwiler33;916200]Well, I see it like this: Most of the decorations for Christman and Easter are from the Pagan religion and they are way over comercialized. Only the child at heart would want to ue something that is not even related to the season. I make my wife mad every year because of that way of looking at Christmass and Easter. As far as Thanks giving, you don't need to be a Christian to be thankful for life and the freedoms that we have in this country at the expense of many of our fore fathers and founders. Let freedon ring and Christ rule!!![/QUOTE]
Just so I understand, you think only Christian focused decorations should be used? Like you said, they are based in Pagan spirituality - even down to the decorations. The Yule Log for Christmas and the Easter Rabbit for Easter (Ostara/Eostre was the Goddess who was celebrated and she was often depicted with a rabbit that represented fertility for the spring season - I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong). So perhaps there should be NO decorations to distract you and your worship of your God? Just a thought...
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Well, I see it like this: Most of the decorations for Christman and Easter are from the Pagan religion and they are way over comercialized. Only the child at heart would want to ue something that is not even related to the season. I make my wife mad every year because of that way of looking at Christmass and Easter. As far as Thanks giving, you don't need to be a Christian to be thankful for life and the freedoms that we have in this country at the expense of many of our fore fathers and founders. Let freedon ring and Christ rule!!!
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I see no problem with decorating the office for whatever winter holiday. As for equal distribution, I think if an employee wants a Chanukah decoration, or Kwanzaa or whatever, they can put it up along with Christmas decorations. But only if they want to. It's easier to just put up snowmen and white sparkly decorations, but that's just me.
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I don't mind seeing the holiday decorations. I think they are pretty and cheerful. The place where my sister works puts up displays in the lobby for all of the winter holidays, which I like. I keep trying to get something like that for my work, but so far, no luck.
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The simplest workplace solution seems to me to use snowflakes, white or silver garlands and other decorations suggesting winter rather than any specific holiday. Or use balloons and party streamers with Happy New Year greetings, since that's everyone's holiday.
And no, Frank, I'm not tired of being "politically correct." I think it's only courteous to recognize that many places in America are no longer mostly Christian and thus distinctly Christmas decorations aren't appropriate anymore. We can decorate our homes as we wish--or not--and keep workplaces "winter-generic" out of respect for the different traditions of those of other religions quite easily, it seems to me.
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One of the companies I used to work for had employees of a variety of religions. We did most of our decorating with white lights, flowers and non-religious items. The owner, who is Jewish, had a string of lights in the shape of chili peppers, which he strung around his door frame. It was cute! We also had a party, which we called our "holiday party" at which we exchanged inexpensive gifts and had a terrific kosher meal.
He had been my boss at another company previously, a place which put up very Christmas decorations (complete with a tree), so he put a menorah with lights on top of a file cabinet. Everyone wondered why the air conditioning kept coming on, until we realized that the menorah was sitting right under the thermostat! After that, the menorah was moved to another place.
The place I work now has a party outside the office to celebrate Christmas because everyone celebrates that holiday - although I also celebrate the Winter Solstice at home.
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