Some scholars fear the story of resurrection has gone far astray

From the Houston Chronicle:

Just as Christmas for many has become less about the miracle of the virgin birth, Easter may be losing its connection to the resurrection.

Fewer than half of Americans mentioned Jesus' death and resurrection when asked about the significance of Easter, according to a survey released last month by Christian researchers the Barna Group.

At the same time, the National Retail Federation reports we'll spend more than $13 billion on the holiday for food, clothes, candy and greeting cards.

Although the holiday is meant to be the central celebration of the church, disassociating Easter from the biblical narrative of the resurrection or seeing it in symbolic terms makes Christianity “safer” for con-temporary churchgoers, some local Christian leaders say.

“Jesus is very challenging. To encounter him is existentially challenging. It can be scary and uncomfortable,” said Jeremy Wilkins, assistant professor of systematic theology at St. Mary's Seminary in Houston. “There is a strong pressure in our culture to reinterpret (the resurrection) or explain it or not to deal with it as the mighty and miraculous thing that it was.”

More here.

Call me crazy, but it strikes me as wildly funny to worry about a pagan fertility festival, which originally had absolutely no connection with Christianity whatsoever, losing its association with the resurrection. "Put the Christ back in Easter" doesn't sound quite as compelling as "Put the Christ back in Christmas," which was also originally a pagan festival, in this case celebrating the Winter solstice.

But that's neither here nor there. As longtime Real Art readers know, I hate Easter. Well, I don't hate Easter, but contemplating its meaning makes me vaguely uncomfortable. Today, I will avoid Easter by working, taking bad tips from people who rarely go to restaurants, but make an exception on Easter Sunday because they might as well, seeing as how they dragged themselves out of bed way earlier than they would have on any other Sunday, just to, you know, go to church.

Actually, that's something of a refreshing notion, especially when paired with the info from the above linked article. That is, I'm starting to believe that, even though most Americans self-identify as "Christian," people don't really give a shit about religion when it comes right down to it. I mean, if Americans really were such devout Christians, Easter would be much bigger than Christmas. But it's not. Indeed, if people cared about Christianity, they'd be in church a lot more than twice a year.

The more I think about it, the more it seems that American "Christianity" is about tribalism, rather than theology or religion. We're Christian because we're American. Or something to that effect. Not because we really care one way or the other that the baby Jesus died for our sins. Seen in that light, the devolution of Easter into just another candy and greeting card holiday makes complete sense. I mean, the only people I know who really care about Easter are people who are totally religious, and there don't seem to be too many of those types around these days. Is American Christianity dying a slow weird zombie death before our very eyes?

You know, this is shaping up to be one of the best Easters for me in recent memory.

Here, go watch the South Park Easter episode. Theologically, it makes just about as much sense as the resurrection.

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