Christmas Freak has missed the point about how petty and narrow-minded the officials are when they ban the word Jesus from Christmas carols to be sung at the national-level Christmas Day celebrations in Petaling Jaya on Dec 25.

It is not about Christians trying 'to pull out the name of Jesus' at every opportunity. It is about officials who want to look tolerant yet try to change the heritage and music with which people celebrate Christmas.

If we ban Jesus' name from carols, we might as well be left with children songs like 'Jingle Bell' and 'Rudolf the 'Red Nosed Reindeer' or love songs like 'Last Christmas I gave my heart'.

But these do not capture the meaning or heritage of Christmas. The guests at the Dec 25 do will miss the opportunity to appreciate and enjoy the culture of Christian Malaysians.

My understanding of carols is this. The first carols were pronounced by the angels telling the shepherds about the birth of Jesus. The shepherds then went on to tell other people about Jesus.

Christians then carried on the tradition of carols by singing songs on the night before Christmas. Therefore, singing carols is a tradition of telling people about Jesus.

It is unacceptable to take the word 'Jesus' out of carols, because singing about Jesus is a Christmas heritage.