In his article "Beware the Easter Bunny," Charles Colson asserts that the idea of the Easter Bunny is a catalyst for the demise of Christianity.
             Colson explains, in brief, the pagan origins of the Easter holiday, including the etiology of the word Easter itself, and then moves into how the Christians essentially appropriated the various customs of the pagan celebration as their own. As he does this he recounts his own childhood, which was full of Easter bunnies, chocolate and brightly colored eggs, but no lessons of why the holiday was celebrated. He states that his parents forced him to go to church and that this was the one day of the year that he had to go, though they never told him why.
             He then moves on to discuss the case of Pawtucket crèche, which states that "sacred events may be publicly celebrated only if they satisfy the secular purpose" (Colson). At this point he asserts that the only reason why religious holidays are still observed is because of the commercial element that satisfies the capitalist tendencies of the country, and the greeting card industry.
             He asserts that the Easter bunny is not simply childhood "fluff," but an extremely dangerous practice that distracts from the real reason for the holiday. Children are growing up without understanding the sacrifice that Jesus made for humanity, and Easter is precisely the time that Christians are supposed to refresh their understanding of the event of the Resurrection and reaffirm their acceptance of this sacrifice and their submission to God, he says.
             Much of his argument is based on the psychological fallout that resulted from David Jenkins', an Anglican bishop, comment that "the Resurrection was merely a conjuring trick with bones." Colson insists that this one comment has reverberated throughout the entire religion of Christianity and that it has created yet another major obstacle to the growth of Chri...