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A New Jersey councilwoman, Charlene Storey, resigned her seat over the changing of the name of an annual tree-lighting ceremony to "Christmas" tree, saying the phrase wrongfully inserted religion into what was supposed to be a secular holiday event.
She shortly after rescinded her resignation, after the mayor, Carl Hokanson, offered her the opportunity to create and head up a diversity committee, NBC News reported.
Storey, meanwhile, insisted she was "not against Christmas trees," and that her resignation was simply one of "principle" over the rightful reference to religion in public service.
"I like Christmas trees and the happy spirit that usually pervades this season," she said, NBC News reported. "But the mayor proposed, and most of council voted, to change a key word in the name of the borough's annual tree lighting event from a neutral, inclusive term back to a religious one."
She called her resignation based "on a matter of conscience and principle," due in large part because the ceremony had been called a "holiday-tree lighting" since the 1990s.
"[The new name] was clearly meant to put religion back into the public event," she said. "Had the name of this event never been changed to use a non-religious term, had it stayed with 'Christmas' instead of being changed to 'holiday,' I could have accepted it as a cultural term."
Storey, who self-identifies as a "non-believer" and humanist, has served on the council since 2013. Her borough of Roselle Park is home to about 13,000.
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