Posted on 03/23/2007 5:09:23 AM PDT by Ellesu
TIVERTON — The Easter Bunny was to have made a stop at a craft fair at the Tiverton Middle School tomorrow, appearing for photos with students as part of a fundraising effort sponsored by the school’s Parent-Teacher Council.
But Schools Supt. William Rearick called a halt to the use of the word “Easter” at a school event, just as the word “Christmas” is out of bounds in school publications and activities.
Instead of the Easter Bunny, the Parent-Teacher Council booth will offer photos with Peter Rabbit.
Similarly, Rearick said, he has told officials of the Tiverton Land Trust that a flier inviting children to an egg hunt cannot include the word “Easter.”
Rearick said he planned to review the proposed wording — which a Land Trust official said does not include the word “Easter” — before deciding whether students can take the flier home. Rearick said yesterday, “We’re trying to walk a fine line between promoting any religion” while permitting celebrations.
“I don’t like the term ‘politically correct,’ ” Rearick said, but during the last year and a half or two years, he has become “more aware of folks who don’t have a Christian background.”
He said he has made it a practice to be “careful of not trying to promote one particular religion” in the schools.
For example, he said, the schools have spring vacation, not Easter vacation.
He said two members of the School Committee, Jan Bergandy and Leonard Wright, are drafting a proposal for a written policy intended to keep the schools on neutral ground when it comes to religious holidays. The proposal will be aired publicly and will be submitted for a vote of the committee, Rearick said.
Such a policy presumably would have to address events such as the Tiverton High School annual Christmas Concert, which was promoted last December, among other venues, in the newsletter of the Walter E. Ranger Elementary School under the headline "Christmas Celebrations."
Rearick nixed the Easter Bunny in response to a complaint from Burk, vice chairman of the School Committee.
Burk said yesterday that the appearance of an Easter Bunny at a school event would violate federal prohibitions against the public schools “soliciting or encouraging religious activities or participating in such activities.”
Elsewhere, similar government bans on the Easter Bunny and Easter egg hunts have become fodder for critics who say there’s nothing religious about these symbols. But Burk, who volunteered that he was raised as a Roman Catholic, said that the Easter Bunny has been part of Easter celebrations as long as he can remember. “Without Easter, there would be no Easter Bunny,” he said.
Jessica Caldwell, president of the Parent-Teacher Council, said she did not object to Rearick’s request that the group switch from the Easter Bunny to Peter Rabbit at tomorrow’s craft fair.
“I really don’t see this as a problem. It’s really to be more sensitive to the religions,” she said.
Laura Epke, a member of the board of directors of the Tiverton Land Trust, said she had no objection to omitting the word “Easter” from the flier about the egg hunt.
Elsewhere in the country, the Easter Bunny and the Easter egg hunt have not evaporated as quietly.
A resident of Walnut Creek, Calif., struck a nerve when he wrote a letter to the editor of an area newspaper about a month ago lambasting the decision of town officials to rename the annual Easter egg hunt as a spring egg hunt featuring the spring bunny.
It didn’t matter that the decision had been made five years ago, or that Walnut Creek was not alone among area communities that had edited the word “Easter” out of their springtime children’s events.
Michael Runzler’s remark that “an Easter egg hunt is about as religious as drinking beer on St. Patrick’s Day or giving roses on St. Valentine’s Day” got him a spot on Fox News, which was picked up on Comedy Central television in a parody headlined “Attack on Easter.”
Last year, St. Paul, Minn., was lampooned nationwide after its human rights director ordered an Easter rabbit and a “Happy Easter” sign removed from City Hall.
...BUT you jump right in any way.
Considering the Easter Bunny originated in the symbol of the Celtic Goddess of fertility, the hare, this is almost funny.
But I guess that is too much to ask.
Garde la Foi, mes amis! Nous nous sommes les sauveurs de la République! Maintenant et Toujours!
(Keep the Faith, my friends! We are the saviors of the Republic! Now and Forever!)
LonePalm, le Républicain du verre cassé (The Broken Glass Republican)
Ok... I'm speechless...
You totally missed the point. He didn't have a problem with the rabbit. He had a problem with the word "Easter".
Following this logic, we should ban: chocolate, jelly beans, peeps, decorated eggs, plastic grass and pastel colors. These are all associated with Easter to, therefore, they endorse religion.
Oh, I got the point all right. I also got the part where the under principal, raised a Catholic, claimed that the Easter Bunny was synonymous with the Christian celebration of Easter. That was the point of my post. The Easter Bunny traces its origin to a pagan goddess. It has nothing to do with Christianity [anymore than Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer has anything to do with the Christian celebration of Christmas]. I find such ignorance and illogic truly amazing.
No no no. If the rabbit had been called the Spring Rabbit, he wouldn't care. But he only cared because the word Easter was used. I don't care about pagan goddesses. I care that he removed the word "Easter" because Easter was Christian. That's suppression of free speech.
Perhaps they should opt for Harvey instead.
Give that rascally old school a phone call!
401-624-6668
"Easter, Easter, Easter" -- come and get me. I'm adding it to my forbidden words list.
Forbidden word list:
Easter
Christmas
St. Valentine's Day
niggardly
refugee
alien
tar baby
tar-and-feather
I checked with Gore HQ, and now, due to Global Warming, these content-free rites should be celebrated on January 15th. Cards should be exchanged with Women, Children, Members of Federally Protected Minority Groups, and Gays and Lesbians. You see, FrPR, back in the day when evil patriarchal European white men knew this seasonal event as "Passover," or "Easter," these groups suffered horribly.
I also checked with national PETA HQ (I am the Maine Chapter President, you know) and this whole RABBIT thing has been ruled demeaning to an important species.
I am not disagreeing with you - I find the "banning" of the words Christmas, Easter and the like absolutely outrageous.
However the word Easter is not a Christian word. The holiday of Eostre (the Teutonic goddess of Spring and fertility) was celebrated hundreds of years before the birth of Christ. When the Christians were converting the Germanic tribes - they kept the same holiday and the same name and pegged it to the Resurrection. The word Easter is a direct derivative of the word Eostre. (she was also connected to Astarte, Ashtoreth and other names for the fertility goddess of the pagans)
A question that has bothered me since I was a kid is that Jesus died on Good Friday and spent three days in the tomb (according to the Bible) but was already resurrected a day and half later on Sunday morning. How do you count Friday afternoon to Sunday morning as 3 days? If he truly spent 3 days in the tomb and was raised on the Sabbath (Saturday) - he would have to have died on Wednesday at the latest - not on Friday.
Sure it isn't. I guess we are all wrong.
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