I agree this song is about skepticism, but more so about free-will and thinking for oneself. All the references to religion in the first verse, then the line "don't believe the florist when he tells you that the roses are free" kind of implies (to me at least), think for yourself and ask questions instead of just accepting other peoples' answers and statements as gospel. The second verse adds onto the concept of free-will and free-thinking. It's saying you can do all these things, but at the end of the day, you have to remember "what you put on the tree" which could mean what you've brought to the plate, what you yourself have contributed. In the end, we have to run our own lives, make our own decisions and believe what we want to believe, instead of just relying on false hopes from all those metaphorical florists out there.
I agree this song is about skepticism, but more so about free-will and thinking for oneself. All the references to religion in the first verse, then the line "don't believe the florist when he tells you that the roses are free" kind of implies (to me at least), think for yourself and ask questions instead of just accepting other peoples' answers and statements as gospel. The second verse adds onto the concept of free-will and free-thinking. It's saying you can do all these things, but at the end of the day, you have to remember "what you put on the tree" which could mean what you've brought to the plate, what you yourself have contributed. In the end, we have to run our own lives, make our own decisions and believe what we want to believe, instead of just relying on false hopes from all those metaphorical florists out there.