Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Xmas trees in Cohousing

[Rick Wheeler (ric]

My wife and I are associate members of the Cornerstone group here in
the Boston area.

    From: "kolre001 [at] maroon.tc.umn.edu" <kolre001 [at] maroon.tc.umn.edu>

    Perhaps it is just that I live in the midwest where the population is 
    overwhelmingly homogenous -- white and Christian -- but I have yet to 
    encounter a cohousing group that even entertained the question of whether 
    or not a Christmas tree would be welcome in the common house or other 
    shared spaces.  They just assumed that no one would mind.

I think that most American's are really unaware of just how much
of a Christian environment we have here in the States.  Not just in
terms of overtly religious objects, but also in terms of cultural
Christianity.

I am a dual US/Israeli citizen and have spent a number of years
abroad.  It was a real shock coming back to the US after 5 years in a
culturally Jewish place (Israel) and having "national" holidays like
Christmas, Easter, etc.

I personally don't object to having my kids know about other's faith
or practices - the trick is to avoid subtle group type of pressures
which can force kids to do things that might not be consistent with
their own beliefs.  

ric