Thoughts in a Haystack

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."

... 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.

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.