Pennsylvania town removes 'Easter' from egg hunt promos after single complaint — and the backlash is fierce



A small city in eastern Pennsylvania recently removed the word "Easter" from its egg hunt promotions over fears that mentioning the holiday would offend nonreligious residents. But in doing so, the city sparked intense backlash and ridicule from others in the community.

What happened?

During an Easton City Council meeting Wednesday night, city administrator Luis Campos informed colleagues that he had edited the city's social media accounts to remove any mention of Easter from advertisements for its upcoming egg hunt events, WFMZ-TV reported.

The move reportedly came at the request of Easton Mayor Sal Panto Jr. after the mayor had been informed that the mere mention of the holiday in relation to city-sponsored events might be seen as a violation of the separation of church and state.

According to Lehigh Valley Live, Campos explained to colleagues that he edited the social media posts in order to remain "neutral" on the subject pending further review from the council.

What's more, the outlets reported, is that the changes were made upon receiving a single complaint about the city's mention of Easter.

Image Source: Facebook screenshot

Campos' announcement reportedly set off a seven-minute discussion amongst city administrators over the definition of "separation of church and state."

"I think the guy’s got too much time on his hands," city Councilman David O’Connell chided, clearly referencing the individual who complained.

City Solicitor Joel Scheer reportedly chimed in to say, "As long we don’t contribute money to the advancement of a particular religion or endorse one over the other, that’s what we have to watch out for."

No decision to re-up the mention of Easter was made at the meeting. The egg hunts, which are sponsored by the city's Bureau of Recreation and Neighborhood Programs, have been promoted as "Easter egg hunts" in the past.

What has been the reaction?

Residents and other commenters quickly descended on social media posts about the decision, offering critique.

"Why bother having it then! Are they going to use white plastic eggs to hunt? Might as well! If people don't believe or care about Easter they should not take their children to hunt EASTER eggs! It's ridiculous!" wrote one commenter under WFMZ's Facebook post on the move.

Another added: "How sad! What's next ... remove CHRIST from Christmas? People need to VOTE BETTER, put stronger, smarter folks in office that will stand up for religious freedom and stop catering to the woke left."

Still another commenter asked, "What about people offended by the removing of 'Easter'? What about people that don't use eggs? What about people that feel 'hunt' is aggressive and violent? OMG!!! Stop already. It's ridiculous. If they don't like the inclusion of EASTER, don't go!"

Others, many who are not Christians, piled on, calling the move "ridiculous" and "dumb."

"I'm Jewish, but this is ridiculous. They aren't Passover eggs, and a fun activity for kids isn't a religious event. Why must we always bow down to the easily offended?" wrote one person.

"Maybe it shouldn't be held around Easter time. Maybe just have an annual egg hunt in the middle of January. Or August maybe. Dumb," said another.

(H/T: FaithWire)

Conservative group at Texas university receives threats after placing Bible verses in Easter eggs around campus



A conservative student group at the University of North Texas said the group received threats after distributing Easter eggs filled with Bible verses around the university campus.

What are the details?

On Sunday, members of the Young Conservatives of Texas UNT placed approximately 250 plastic Easter eggs filled with biblical messages of hope around the campus.

Kelly Neidert, the group's chairman, told the Christian Post that the group hid the eggs to celebrate Easter amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

"My group decided we wanted to do this event because our school has really strict COVID guidelines right now, and we just thought that putting some Easter eggs out with some Bible verses would be kind of fun for everybody and a good way to celebrate Eater without breaking our COVID guidelines," Neidert explained.

According to the College Fix, the backlash was swift and intense from students, parents, and UNT alumni.

"They're obsessed with harassing us just because that's what they like to do," she told the Christian Post. "They don't like that we're conservative, but I think that this probably was a little more inflammatory in their minds because of the religious aspect. And they don't feel included somehow ... [since] it's a Christian holiday. I think that was a lot of the problem they're having with this."

The majority of the abuse, Neidert said, focused on what was inside the eggs.

From the Christian Post:

Neidert retweeted screenshots of some of the students slamming the Easter eggs hunt. Some students accused them of littering, while others called for the student body to stomp on or trash the eggs. In reference to the Bible verses inside the eggs, one student wrote on Twitter: "Awesome! I was low on toilet paper."

Some eggs were found around campus with the Bible verse removed and condoms left inside.
After my fellow students destroyed my org’s abortion memorial, I should have known they would go out and destroy ou… https://t.co/VllCnsOuc2
— Kelly (@Kelly)1617046218.0

She continued, "Once the eggs were out, we got a lot more backlash from more students. They were trying to go stomp them. They said they would go throw them away, and they just sent some nasty messages to me and about the event."

Neidert said that at least one student told her to kill herself over the Easter eggs.

"Honestly, it happens a lot more than it should," she said. "I was upset like anyone would be, but I had to understand they are mean people and they don't know how to handle someone who has a different opinion than them. Their first instinct is to be violent and make threats. The only reaction is to be nice to them and don't let them get to you."

Neidert said that she and the rest of the group plan to remove any remaining eggs from the campus over this week.

“There is no way to separate celebrating Easter and Jesus, those things go hand in hand," she said in a statement to the College Fix, and admitted that she's "very disappointed" over the outcome.

"We were all super excited when we brainstormed the idea and picked verses together, we thought everyone can appreciate it, you don't even have to be Christian to read a [Bible] verse and appreciate it," she said. "We are very disappointed this is how it's gone down."