{"id":3428,"date":"2022-04-15T10:46:12","date_gmt":"2022-04-15T14:46:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/christnewstoday\/?p=3428"},"modified":"2022-04-15T10:46:12","modified_gmt":"2022-04-15T14:46:12","slug":"city-removes-easter-from-egg-hunt-promos-citizens-react","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/christnewstoday\/2022\/04\/city-removes-easter-from-egg-hunt-promos-citizens-react.html","title":{"rendered":"City Removes “Easter” From Egg Hunt Promos, Citizens React"},"content":{"rendered":"

Easter egg hunts have become a big part of celebrating the holiday. Children across the country run around, looking for bright eggs with sweet surprises inside. However, one Pennsylvania city has a problem calling it an \u201cEaster egg hunt.\u201d The city of Easton, Pennsylvania, has reportedly dropped the word \u201cEaster\u201d from promotions for its holiday egg hunts over concerns about the separation of church and state, and the reactions are strong.<\/p>\n

It all started after someone allegedly complained over the government\u2019s inclusion of \u201cEaster\u201d in various advertisements, pondering whether it would be seen as a constitutional issue. This allegation supposedly triggered the removal of the word from promos shared on social media,\u00a0WFMZ-TV reported.<\/p>\n

The city\u2019s official website now refers to the events sponsored by Easton\u2019s Bureau of Recreation & Neighborhood Programs as \u201cegg hunts.\u201d The\u00a0advertisement\u00a0is naturally adorned with decorative Easter eggs. City Administrator Luis Campos reportedly\u00a0explained these details at the Easton City Council meeting, though the video and schedule from that meeting are not yet publicly available.<\/p>\n

The city promoted at least one \u201cEaster Egg hunt\u201d\u00a0on its website\u00a0in 2019, and that reference is still available. Reaction to the news was immediate, with hundreds of comments quickly flooding the WFMZ-TV Facebook post about the removal. Some called the decision \u201cdumb\u201d and \u201cridiculous,\u201d and others seemed confused.<\/p>\n

\"egg
City of Easton Website Screenshot<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

One woman\u00a0said, \u201cI totally believe in the separation of church and state, but this is truly absurd.\u201d Others were much more lengthy and animated. \u201cWhy bother having it then! Are they going to use white plastic eggs to hunt? Might as well!\u201d another person\u00a0said. \u201cIf people don\u2019t believe or care about Easter, they should not take their [children] to hunt EASTER eggs! It\u2019s ridiculous!\u201d<\/p>\n

And yet another commenter implored people to \u201cvote better\u201d and \u201cstand up for religious freedom.\u201d \u201cHow sad! What\u2019s next, remove CHRIST from Christmas?\u201d she\u00a0wrote. You can read the hundreds of responses\u00a0here<\/a>. Every Easter, children across the country rush around their homes and gardens searching for chocolate eggs. Easter isn\u2019t Easter without the annual egg hunt for many families. In many pre-Christian societies, eggs held associations with spring and new life. People may think that Easter egg hunts are unnecessary for Easter celebrations, but they have a deeper meaning. Early Christians adopted these beliefs, making the egg a symbol of the resurrection and the empty shell a metaphor for Jesus\u2019 tomb.<\/p>\n

The decoration of eggs is believed to date back to at least the 13th century, while the rite of the Easter parade has even older roots. Other traditions, such as the consumption of Easter candy, are among the modern additions to celebrating this early springtime holiday. Removing Easter from the egg hunt announcement attempts to remove the history of Easter from the egg hunts. It also tries to take away from the actual celebration of the holiday, the resurrection of Jesus. If someone has an issue with calling it an Easter egg hunt, their children shouldn\u2019t participate, or they could hold a separate egg hunt at their home. However, it\u2019s unfair to remove Easter from the egg hunt for everyone who celebrates.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Easter egg hunts have become a big part of celebrating the holiday. Children across the country run around, looking for bright eggs with sweet surprises inside. However, one Pennsylvania city has a problem calling it an \u201cEaster egg hunt.\u201d The city of Easton, Pennsylvania, has reportedly dropped the word \u201cEaster\u201d from promotions for its holiday…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":657,"featured_media":3434,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fbia_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[141,7],"tags":[366,1430],"class_list":["post-3428","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-america","category-christian-news","tag-easter","tag-egg-hunts"],"yoast_head":"\nCity Removes "Easter" From Egg Hunt Promos, Citizens React<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A Pennsylvania city removed "Easter" from all of their egg hunt promotions after a complaint. Some residents can't comprehend the decision.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/christnewstoday\/2022\/04\/city-removes-easter-from-egg-hunt-promos-citizens-react.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"City Removes "Easter" From Egg Hunt Promos, Citizens React\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A Pennsylvania city removed "Easter" from all of their egg hunt promotions after a complaint. Some residents can't comprehend the decision.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/christnewstoday\/2022\/04\/city-removes-easter-from-egg-hunt-promos-citizens-react.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Christ News Today\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-04-15T14:46:12+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/409\/2022\/04\/Easter1.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"768\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"510\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Lauren McKeithen\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"City Removes \"Easter\" From Egg Hunt Promos, Citizens React","description":"A Pennsylvania city removed \"Easter\" from all of their egg hunt promotions after a complaint. Some residents can't comprehend the decision.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/christnewstoday\/2022\/04\/city-removes-easter-from-egg-hunt-promos-citizens-react.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"City Removes \"Easter\" From Egg Hunt Promos, Citizens React","og_description":"A Pennsylvania city removed \"Easter\" from all of their egg hunt promotions after a complaint. 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