Tuesday, April 05, 2011
Sucking Eggs
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We all know about the "war on Christmas" ... the annual rite where the words "Happy Holidays" or "Seasons Greetings" are proof of a conspiracy of atheists, secular humanists and academic elites to undermine the fact that America is a Christian Nation ... no matter what that pesky Constitution says.
Now it seems that there is a "war on Easter."
Rob Boston at The Wall of Separation has the story:
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We all know about the "war on Christmas" ... the annual rite where the words "Happy Holidays" or "Seasons Greetings" are proof of a conspiracy of atheists, secular humanists and academic elites to undermine the fact that America is a Christian Nation ... no matter what that pesky Constitution says.Now it seems that there is a "war on Easter."
Rob Boston at The Wall of Separation has the story:
Munson Township, Ohio, dared to announce a "Spring Egg Hunt" for kids. (Horrors!) According to the [American Family Association], this is really an effort to "strip 'Easter' from community events."As Boston notes, the AFA is trying to get
... the name of a Pagan goddess back into the event. That's right – Pagan. Easter takes its name from Eoestre (sometimes spelled Eastre), an Anglo-Saxon goddess worshipped by peoples in northern Europe during the pre-Christian era.What I want to know is when we expect the "war on St. Patrick" and all those people who don't wear green ...
The AFA will also be supporting a Pagan fertility ritual. Easter is essentially a celebration of, well, unbridled procreation. ... Eggs are prominent because they are obvious symbols of fertility. So is the Easter Bunny. Think of it, what are rabbits best known for? Speed and fecundity.
Even the AFA admits that egg hunts aren't exactly biblical. That's putting it mildly. Stories differ about the origin of events like eggs hunts and coloring eggs, but most accounts place them long before the rise of Christianity. It's pretty obvious they have nothing to do with the New Testament account of the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus.
In fact, some fundamentalists don't celebrate Easter, and they rail against its Pagan overtones and assail its emphasis on the sensual.
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Heh. At a church service I attended one Easter some years ago, the pastor began his sermon with a rhetorical question, phrased with dramatic pauses: "What. . . is Easter. . . about?"
And he paused again.
And from the back of the sanctuary came the joyful shout of a three year old boy: "It's about the BUNNY!!"
So the purists will have to battle those within the pews, as well as those enjoying a nice spring day at egg hunts in public parks.
re the origin of Easter eggs, I've got an icon of Mary Magdalene holding her miraculous color-changing egg, so it looks like Christianity co-opted eggs early on.
I myself am looking forward to the chocolate, which certainly isn't biblical either.
-- non-purist pew sitter
And he paused again.
And from the back of the sanctuary came the joyful shout of a three year old boy: "It's about the BUNNY!!"
So the purists will have to battle those within the pews, as well as those enjoying a nice spring day at egg hunts in public parks.
re the origin of Easter eggs, I've got an icon of Mary Magdalene holding her miraculous color-changing egg, so it looks like Christianity co-opted eggs early on.
I myself am looking forward to the chocolate, which certainly isn't biblical either.
-- non-purist pew sitter
# posted by 
: 9:14 PM
: 9:14 PM
I myself am looking forward to the chocolate, which certainly isn't biblical either.
Well, you could have chocolate Jesuses ... if you could somehow manage ears to break off and eat early.
Well, you could have chocolate Jesuses ... if you could somehow manage ears to break off and eat early.
What I want to know is when we expect the "war on St. Patrick" and all those people who don't wear green ...
I can go with that...
I can go with that...
I'm half Irish, and I spent St Paddy's day watching the NCAA Men's Div1 Basketball tournament. I figure during the day's 16 games, I must have cheered for a team from a Catholic school founded by Irish priests, so that's my observance of the day taken care of.
Oh, and earlier on, I watched some of Dara O'Briaim and Ed Byrne.
Oh, and earlier on, I watched some of Dara O'Briaim and Ed Byrne.
# posted by : 2:09 AM
: 2:09 AM
You know, last December, people on our side of the Sanity Line were making *jokes* about the War On Easter, and the whole pagan Oestre connection. Leave it to the wingnuts to unselfconsciously do a full header into self-parody.
I already have mixed feelings about eating chocolate rabbits and marshmallow chicks (not to mention gingerbread men), so -- aside from the ear problem, which you pointed out* -- I'll have to pass on a chocolate Jesus, especially since it adds a weird vibe with eucharistic theology that -- oh, never mind.
My daughter is pushing me to go vegetarian anyway . . .
-- pew sitter
**certain representations of the Buddha might work, though
My daughter is pushing me to go vegetarian anyway . . .
-- pew sitter
**certain representations of the Buddha might work, though
# posted by : 1:23 PM
: 1:23 PM
I had some chocolate Santas--isn't that the same thing? But of course an Easter basket symbolizes the manger, where Baby Jesus hatched from a gaily colored egg on Christmas Day.
Mark, if I could have had my children by laying eggs, gaily colored or no, I would have gladly done it. My body will NEVER be the same.
-- pew sitter, hoping for chocolate on Mother's Day. Which is the VERY LEAST they could do. ;-)
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-- pew sitter, hoping for chocolate on Mother's Day. Which is the VERY LEAST they could do. ;-)
# posted by : 9:44 AM
: 9:44 AM << Home
