England Falling: Charity Under Fire for Removing Word "Easter" From Upcoming Event
Sara Gonzales reports at the Blaze:
The Church of England is sparring with a charity organization in the United Kingdom that removed the word "Easter" from its annual Easter egg hunt.
National Trust, a nature and environmental conservation charity, has held the popular annual event for a decade, and each year it has been branded as the Easter Egg Trail. But this year, the charity decided on a different name with one obvious key word missing.
The event's new name? The Great British Egg Hunt.
According to the Blaze, "Cadbury, the chocolate candy company that sponsors the yearly event, explained that they wanted to appeal to non-Christians."
“We invite people from all faiths and none to enjoy our seasonal treats," the company is quoted as saying, according to the UK Telegraph.
"The Church of England denounced the decision," however, "saying it was an attempt to airbrush faith from the Christian holiday," the Blaze reports.
"This marketing campaign . . . highlights the folly in airbrushing faith from Easter," a church spokesman said, according to the Blaze.
The Archbishop of York, Dr. John Sentamu, "sharply criticized the decision, pointing out that John Cadbury, the company’s original founder, was a Christian and that the act was disrespectful to his name," the Blaze reports.
“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,” Sentamu said, according to the Blaze.
John Cadbury "built houses for all his workers, he built a Church, he made provision for schools. It is obvious that for him Jesus and justice were two sides of the one coin," the Archbishop said. "To drop Easter from Cadbury’s Easter Egg Hunt in my book is tantamount to spitting on the grave of Cadbury."