The Christian History of the Christmas Tree

It is something of a fad among the detractors and critics of Christianity to accuse modern Christians of being hypocrites on some topic because they denounce something as being against God’s commandments, but then celebrate Christmas with Christmas trees and just everyone knows that Christmas trees are pagan in origin. The logic behind this criticism is to suggest that Christians are irrational and do not apply all the parts of their faith equally, with the insinuation being that why Christians do not approved of something is rooted more in their hatred for something or someone than their actual beliefs.

But, is it true? Are Christmas Trees of pagan, non-Christian origins and are Christians participating in pagan rites, or the remnants of them, by erecting Christmas Trees in their homes? In this article, I will answer these questions from two major angles – by evaluating the logic (or lack thereof) behind the argument that doing something remotely similar to how X people may have done it to see if that argument is meaningful at all and seeing if the actual history of Christmas Trees backs up the claim that they are of pagan origin.