The War on Easter is here!

[BobcatJH]

Here's what I wrote last December:

The War on Easter: If the religious right is so up-in-arms over the birth of Jesus Christ, you would think they'd have a back-end campaign in the wings for His resurrection. I, for one, can't wait to hear the Bill O'Reillys and John Gibsons of the world spinning yarns about far-flung Midwestern towns outlawing the sale of ham. Or Easter eggs, both chocolate and the painted kind. Or that horrible green plastic grass. Plus, there's the anti-Semitic tie-in, which is always a plus for these people. If they can agitate their base and persecute someone - especially Jews, though African Americans or homosexuals will do - it's easy to motivate the Christian Taliban into action. Beatings optional, of course.

Well, don't say I didn't warn you. From the right-wing World Net Daily (hat tip Pandagon):

In the wake of the national uproar over the celebration of Christmas in America, some are now focusing their attention on Easter, wondering if political correctness will have an impact on what many Christians consider to be the holiest time of the year.

This week in Minnesota's capital, a toy rabbit, pastel-colored eggs and a sign with the words "Happy Easter" adorning the entrance to the St. Paul City Council offices were ordered to hit the bunny trail by the city's human-rights director who claimed the items might offend non-Christians.

-snip-

Already, many stores and malls across the U.S. are preparing for seasonal events, with some refraining from usage of terms like "the Easter Bunny," opting instead for more generic terms like "Spring Bunny," or other names avoiding the name "Easter."

One such location is the Somerset Collection, an upscale mall in Troy, Mich., serving 14 million shoppers per year. It's now publicizing an event with its "Spring Bunny" and Walt Disney's Winnie the Pooh.

The event caught the attention of WorldNetDaily reader Tim Edwards, who says, "It appears that this very important Christian holiday is under assault just like Christmas is."

[TallahasseeGrannie]

1. Rabbits and eggs

have nothing to do with Easter. As a Christian, I find the Easter Bunny at the mall handing out goodies on Good Friday to be an affront to my faith, rather than an affirmation. But it's a free country.

[Texaroo]

6. A great Eddie Izzard bit suggested...

...that the brown of the chocolate bunny represented the wood on the cross.

You would THINK that these rightie "Christians" would have a problem with the rabbits and eggs, since they were the PAGAN symbols of the spring fertlity holiday the Christians co-opted. They should take back Easter from the pagans. Or wait. The pagans had it first, so we should take back Easter FOR the pagans.

Or wait a minute. The atheists should go to Easter, separate all the symbols and classify them into pagan and Christian, and then award display rights by seniority.

It's amazing that the right have so little understanding of history that they are now advocating for pagan displays in public. The Wiccans must be so proud!!

[TallahasseeGrannie]

9. Agreed

I think the Easter Bunny should BE the spring bunny. And eggs and candy are great spring symbols. I'd rather celebrate Easter in church and at my house with flowers and a feast. No rabbits.

[AtomicKitten]

19. the fabulous Eddie Izzard has a great grip on life as it really is

[Tesha]

21. Sure they do!

The holiday that Christians call "Easter" is a celebration that
has existed from time immemorial. *ALL* cultures that live
in temperate zones have some sort of celebration to mark
the return of the fertile time, of the return of life to their
portion of the planet.

Eggs and Rabbits are big-time fertility symbols.

And did you think it was a coincidence that the Christian's
god guy "rises from the dead"?

Tesha

[texastoast]

2. Easter

A derivative of Eoster, goddess of fertility.

"Keep the Eoster in Easter!!"

[Crunchy Frog]

4. Is "Easter" etymologycally related to the word "estrogen"?

Kind of cool if it was.:)

[Teaser]

7. doubtful

one derivation links it to an anglo saxon goddess who had spring rites celebrated.

Estrogen is a latin derivation, from the same root as "Estrus", the period of sexual excitement during which a female mammal is most fertile. The more antique meaning of the word means something like "craze", as in being crazy with desire.

[Crunchy Frog]

17. Since Anglo-Saxon and Latin are both ultimately derived

from Indo-European, is it possible that these two words could have originated from the same ultimate source? Sorry to keep beating a dead horse, but I find that kind of speculation fascinating, and it really would be kind of cool.

[Teaser]

18. possible...but I don't think the vowels are right.

There were massive vowel shifts in the various language groups prior to the development of AS and Latin. So althought it's possible, I still think its unlikely that the true cognates would be so closely aligned.

That said, I want to case doubt on the goddess derivation I posted above. Some scholars argue that the goddess was named for the holiday and not vice versa, so take that for what its worth.

[CTyankee]

3. Remember Madalyn Murray O'Hair

She was the atheist who famously said about Easter that it was when "all the Christians go into heat."

I love it.

[TallahasseeGrannie]

10. Whatever happened to her? Didn't she disappear?

[Name removed]

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[texastoast]

14. How offensive

(to me) No wonder she ended up dead. It would have paid her to keep that mouth focused on separation of church and state.

[CTyankee]

20. Yes, she was offensive to some

but I don't think she deserved to be murdered for her remark. As I remember her she seemed to relish poking fun at the fundies. But so did my grandmother, who did a devastating imitation of Billy Graham. She was a feisy Texan, too.

[Teaser]

5. I can't take this shit.

I really can't. A War on Fucking Easter now?


goddam lunatics.

[OneTwentyoNine]

8. Bush and his flaming RW Neocons have a War on Labor Day

And that goes on 24/7 with those bastards. NO to minimum wage increases. YES to fat ass tax cuts for Hilton and Limbaugh.

[Pithy Cherub]

11. So where's your money: Bugs Bunny versus Alice's White Rabbit

is the main event. Of course, watching the Peeps harden is a testament to the pervasiveness of Easter shopping Americans. All that shopping so reflects the true meaning of Easter.
:crazy:

[Name removed]

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[eppur_se_muova]

15. I'm confused...I thought it was turkeys that gave us eggs.

So I shouldn't have served roast rabbit? My faux pas.

[killbotfactory]

16. Fundy christians sure are defensive about their pagan traditions...