Plans to take the Easter out of an annual Easter egg hunt in Britain are under fire as an unnecessary act of political correctness.
Both the Church of England and Prime Minister Theresa May have condemned the move by the National Trust, a conservation charity responsible for organizing the annual event.
Last year it was called the “Easter egg Trail.” This year it is being promoted as the “Great British Egg Hunt” — with Easter being lost in the transition.
“This marketing campaign . . . highlights the folly in airbrushing faith from Easter,” said an official statement from the Church of England that was sent to The Washington Post. A church spokeswoman added that senior church leaders are adamantly against the re-branding.
Some 300,000 children are expected to attend this year’s hunt, held at 250 sites owned by the National Trust, a charity that promotes conservation. It partners with Cadbury, the maker of the chocolate eggs for the hunt.
Finger-pointing is already underway as to who decided to remove the reference to Easter.
“The National Trust is in no way downplaying the significance of Easter,” a spokesman told the Telegraph, placing the blame for the growing fiasco on Cadbury’s board of directors “who are responsible for the branding and wording of our egg hunt campaign.”
Prime Minister May is a member of the National Trust, and she has not minced her criticism of the charity’s decision to bow to political correctness — especially since it wasn’t even under any pressure to do so.
“I think what the National Trust is doing is frankly just ridiculous,” May told ITV Nanews. “Easter’s very important. It’s important to me, it’s a very important festival for the Christian faith for millions across the world.”
Though “Easter” has been banished from all event advertising, it can be found on Cadbury’s website, which contains a reference to consumers of chocolate being welcome to “Enjoy Easter Fun” if they participate in the annual egg hunt.
Cadbury tiptoes around the Christian origins of the festival, assuring people of their multicultural bonafides in a statement that even includes atheists: “We invite people from all faiths and none to enjoy our seasonal treats.”
Archbishop John Sentamu of York said Cadbury is adding insult to injury by renaming the event because the company’s founder, John Cadbury, was a devout Quaker who recognized the Christian significance of Easter.
“To drop Easter from Cadbury’s Easter Egg Hunt in my book is tantamount to spitting on the grave of Cadbury,” Sentamu said in a statement.
“He built houses for all his workers, he built a church, he made provision for schools,” Sentamu said. “It is obvious that for him Jesus and justice were two sides of the one coin.”