Christmas tree is the wrong focus

To the editor:

I'm replying to the letter, "Christ-less Christmas is horrifying." Actually, cutting down a tree, erecting it in one's home and decorating it was once considered a heathen or pagan tradition. The Christmas tree has nothing to do with Christ. It's just another holiday tradition for many to enjoy.

Here's a Bible verse from Jeremiah 10:2-4: "Thus saith the Lord, Learn not the way of the heathen, and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven; for the heathen are dismayed at them. For the customs of the people are vain: for one cutteth a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman, with the axe. They deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it move not."

Christmas tree. Holiday tree. It doesn't matter. The tree itself has nothing to do with Christ. Neither does Old St. Nick.

DEBORAH J. BENNETT, Cape Girardeau