Despite frequently discussing conflicts with how the Roman Catholic church operates locally, there is still a common bond of being a Christian and witnessing how the shared faith is being dismissed by the world. What has been seen as the slow dissolution of Christianity from culture is seen most prominently when it comes to the major holidays of Christmas and Easter. This past Easter season has seen organizations and corporations around the world removing their recognition of Easter, all under the guise of inclusivity.
The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines the word “inclusive” as “covering or intended to cover all items” or “broad in orientation or scope,” yet many are using the word asa means of excluding Christianity – it makes no sense.
Earlier this month, the National Trust, an English conservation organization, removed the word “Easter” from its annual Easter event, renaming it from the “Easter Egg Trail” to the “Great British Egg Hunt.” The organization denied the removal of the word Easter was a dismissal of the holiday, saying, “Nothing could be further from the truth.”
British Prime Minister Theresa May responded to the development, telling ITV, “I don’t know what they are thinking about frankly.”
“I’m not just a vicar’s daughter, I’m a member of the National Trust as well,” she explained. “I think the stance they have taken is absolutely ridiculous.”
Shoppers in England have also recently lambasted chocolatiers Nestle and Cadbury for removing the word Easter from the packaging of their seasonal chocolate eggs. According to John Bingham, religious affairs editor for The Telegraph, “Easter treats are now routinely labelled simply as ‘milk chocolate egg’ with no overt mention of the Christian festival.”
Cadbury, which sponsors the (now) Great British Egg Hunt, responded by saying the word Easter is embossed on the egg itself, while Nestle said, “There has been no deliberate decision to drop the word Easter from our products.”
Some shoppers believe the removal of the word “Easter” would mean the chocolate treats would now be available all-year round, however, as pointed out by Laura Burnip in The Sun, “Eggs are a sign of re-birth and the hollow chocolate is believed to represent Jesus’ empty tomb after he was resurrected.” In essence, the idea of a hollow, chocolate egg cannot be merely put out as a marketing ploy; there is significanceas to why they are produced.
Cadbury also indicated to consumers that the word Easter was on the back of their packaging, to which Bingham characterized it as “relegated it to the back;” he also noted, “The response generated mockery from many and calls for the company to reinstate the word Easter or face a boycott next year.”
It almost sounds like satire, with a company defending itself from alleged religious discrimination by saying, essentially, we did not remove the name, it’s just hidden in the back.
In an article from The Blaze, a conservative news outlet, they mentioned the Archbishop of York, Dr. John Sentamu, who discussed the Christian faith of those behind the Cadbury label.
“The Cadburys were Great Quaker industrialists, if people visited Birmingham today, in the Cadbury World, they will discover how Cadbury’s Christian faith influenced his industrial output,” he said. “He built houses for all his workers, he built a church, he made provision for schools.”
“To drop Easter from Cadbury’s Easter Egg Hunt, in my book, is tantamount to spitting on the grave of Cadbury.”
Meanwhile, in Australia, there was uproar from parents when schools in New South Wales prohibited the use of the word “Easter” during their annual hat parade.
Bondi Public School made their decision to bar the word “Easter” in 2011, with School Principal Michael Jones calling it a way of being more “inclusive.”
“We are an inclusive community which celebrates our diverse range of cultures and beliefs, I have not called it an Easter Hat parade,” he wrote in the school newsletter. “Many religious celebrations occur at this time of year but we want to include all students.”
Including all by barring Christians? There has not been a report saying those who observe the “many religious celebrations” he cites are also banned from recognizing their holidays, why is that? It would be a different story if it blocked all religious references, yet Jones only wants to single out one.
According to conservative columnist and commentator Todd Starnes, “It appears the Aussies are dealing with a serious infestation of anti-Christian bullies.”
Similar anti-Christian actions have been witnessed for years and they continue at a great number, particularly with the rise of ISIS and the administration of former US President Barack Obama doing nothing about the scourge of Christians in the Middle East. With the fervor the left has with bringing refugees to the United States, of the thousands fleeing war-torn places, like Syria, there were a miniscule number of Christian refugees from the region that were taken into the United States.
Rachel Stoltzfoos discussed the very issue in a January 2017 article on news website The Daily Caller, dissecting how the media misreported the story of Christian refugees trying to escape persecution.
“The country admitted about the same number of Christian refugees as Muslim refugees in Fiscal Year 2016, according to Pew Research Center figures cited by The New York Times in an effort to refute Trump’s statement,” she wrote. “About 38,000 Christian refugees were admitted compared to about 39,000 Muslims.”
“But this figure is a sum total of refugees worldwide,” Stoltzfoos explained. “[US President Donald Trump] was clearly referring to specific Christian minority populations in the Middle East.”
She elaborated, “Obama admitted more than 12,000 Muslim refugees from Syria in Fiscal Year 2016, but fewer than 100 Christian refugees from the same country.”
Trump made his intentions clear, speaking with the Christian Broadcasting Network earlier this year, indicating his plans to prioritize Christian refugees from the Middle East.
“[During the Obama administration] if you were a Muslim you could come in, but if you were a Christian, it was almost impossible and the reason that was so unfair – everybody was persecuted, in all fairness – but they were chopping off the heads of everybody but more so the Christians,” he said. “We are going to help them.”
At this point, the Christian community has experienced it all when it comes to discrimination. As a faith, always open to discussion, but seeing, time and time again, open arms rejected under the pretense of including all when, in the end, it’s including everybody else and excluding the one.
Today, when terrorists are destroying centuries-old artifacts precious to the Christian faith and seeing a previous American president, who calls himself a Christian, turn a blind eye to desecration, persecution, and murder, all done in opposition to a faith he claims to embrace, there is a point when saying “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing” is not enough and, much like the actions taken by Trump, something needs to be done for Christians as well./WDJ