Councilwoman Resigns over the the Word ‘Christmas’ in Town’s ‘Christmas Tree Lighting’ Ceremony

A councilwoman in Roselle Park, New Jersey is resigning because her borough decided to call its Christmas tree-lighting ceremony a “Christmas Tree Lighting” ceremony — yes, with the word “Christmas” in it — and she just couldn’t stand to be a part of something so blatantly offensive.

“I cannot in good conscience continue to be part of a council that is exclusionary or to work with a mayor who is such,” former Councilwoman-at-Large Charlene Storey said in her resignation letter, according to NJ.com.

The council decided to change the name of the annual ceremony from “Tree Lighting” to “Christmas Tree Lighting” in a 4–2 vote last Thursday — which prompted Storey to walk out and then resign.

Storey, who describes herself as a “non-believer,” told NJ.com that having the word “Christmas” to the event title “cuts non-Christians out of the loop and favors one religion.”

#share#Or, it could just be, you know — accurate. After all, if you were to point to an evergreen tree with lights on it and ask any non-moron what he was looking at, he’d say “a Christmas tree.” Because that’s what it’s called.

Or, as Mayor Carl Hokanson put it:

“It’s not a street, it’s not a building, it’s a Christmas tree.”

Yep.