It’s a little crazy at the White House this Easter, which is a religious holiday, the most important holiday on the Christian calendar. In one case the holiday is being disrespected, but not in the other.
In the first case, some were surprised to learn that children of National Guard members are prohibited from submitting artwork with religious symbolism for the White House’s 2024 “Celebrating National Guard Families” event, according to several sources, including the Just The News website.
“The Easter egg art contest is part of the White House’s Easter traditions. This year, the Adjutants General of the National Guard requested on behalf of First Lady Jill Biden for the children of parents in the National Guard to submit artwork with the theme, ‘Celebrating our Military Families,’” the website reported.
The Easter egg design “must not include any questionable content, religious symbols, overtly religious themes, or partisan political statements.”
No religious symbols or themes… on Easter.
Also prohibited: Designs that promote bigotry, racism, hatred or harm against any individual or group, as well as discrimination based on race, gender, religion, nationality, disability, sexual orientation or age.
You can view the language here.
Despite the good intent, don’t the rules place religious symbols, such as the cross, on the same plane as symbols of hate, such as the swastika? (No, I am not forgetting that some — looking at you, KKK — have misappropriated the cross for evil. That sin is on them, not the cross itself.)
Why would an administration headed by a president who calls himself a good Catholic want to dechristianize a Christian holiday? To make it more inclusive? To me, it would be like removing the menorah from a White House observance of Hanukkah. Not everything needs to be reduced to nothingness to avoid the possibility of anyone finding offense. [Update: Days after publication, I learned the ban on religious symbols at the White House Easter celebration had been in effect for 45 years. That would have been when Jimmy Carter was president.]
If Christian symbols bother you, stay away from Christian celebrations, such as the White House lawn at Easter. The Constitution demands a separation of church and state, it does not demand removal of religion.
Conservatives are squawking about this on social media, and their complaints are justified.
One quick P.S.: An Easter bunny, which is not a religious symbol, in 2022 seemed to “>not Easter.
March 31 was the date chosen when the event was first organized in 2009. Easter that year was on April 12. The next time Easter will fall on March 31 will be in 2086.
So if you hear or see that Biden has supplanted Easter with a trans holiday, understand that you are being lied to.
Let God be Biden’s judge.
WTF is trans visibility day? Why put out a proclamation? As a Catholic he should have deferred from signing it. He is just a puppet.
Every “minority” has a day, or a week. If they are law-abiding Americans, i have no problem with a gesture.
Any practicing Catholic who still supports Joe Biden has very successfully divorced her faith from her politics. She might think that’s a good thing. But she has only done one thing: placed her politics above her faith, thereby honoring neither
When I think about Catholic politicians going against their faith I think of these admonitions: “You cannot serve both God and Mammon [i.e., power, position, money, etc.], for you will love the one and hate the other.” Or my favorite, “What does it profit a man to gain the whole world and suffer the loss of his soul?”
I presume that also means any good Catholic must refuse to support politicians who support the death penalty.
Please remember that Joe Biden is President of the United States of America. He has to make decisions that best help all Americans, not just Catholics. JFK issued a statement on TV after he was elected to reassure all Americans that he would take his orders from the Pope. It’s also why we have separation of church and state.
JFK said he “would take his orders from the Pope.” 😂
The cluelessness (to be charitable) or arrogant hostility against the traditions, religions, values and customs of the American people is staggering. They no longer even care that we see their wickedness unmasked. And yet they accuse the “other candidate” of things he has never done, even as they continue to do worse themselves.
The fact that so many Americas continue to support their platform is frightening in the extreme, because if it’s this bad now, imagine how bad it’s going to get unless they are put in their place!
Joe Biden is not Catholic he has proven that over and over by backing abortion rights. He is Catholic in name only. The Pope should excommunicate him immediately. Another Pope may do that but at this time, we are stuck with a WOKE Socialist Pope. It’s hard to bring this up today, since today is Easter Sunday but the truth is the truth.
Don’t you mean removing a Menorah from a White House celebration of Hanukkah, not Passover?
Mental fart on my part. You are correct. Thanks.
Of course, there wouldn’t be any of this nonsense if there were no religion; that would be heavenly.
What a terrifying thought.
Vince, I agree with you.
.👏.👏.👏.👏.👏
👍👍👏👏
Well it did take me an hour + google to figure this out. Stu, don’t if this has been reported or not, but here’s what happened.
These guidelines are not issued by the White House or the Bidens
They are issued by the American Egg Board, that is, the folks who promote the “incredible edible egg.”
How do I know this?
First, it says right here: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/special-easter-egg-exhibit-at-the-white-house-in-collaboration-with-americas-egg-farmers-celebrates-national-guard-children-302104013.html
Second, the guidelines prohibiting religious symbols–which are basically a boilerplate sweepstakes contract that you see anywhere–themselves are issued by “the Sponsor.” It states “Sponsor will be collecting personal data about entrants online, in accordance with its privacy policy. Please review the Sponsor’s privacy policy at https://www.incredibleegg.org/privacy-policy.”
Third, the American Egg Board, which is an industry board to promote egg sales overseen by the USDA Agricultural Marketing Service, and funded by assessments on industry members is a so-called “Checkoff” organization (because it started off with voluntary contributions that a member would “checkoff” on a form to contribute). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commodity_checkoff_program
Fourth, as the American Egg Board explained when announcing the contest:
“The opportunity this year and in previous years has allowed for children to bring their creativity to life in a way that celebrates the joy of eggs and reflects the identified theme while remaining non-discriminatory and not showing preference to any individual religious or political viewpoints as the American Egg Board is PROHIBITED FROM DOING AS A NATIONAL CHECKOFF ORGANIZATION.” [ I changed the last words to caps]
That is also at the original announcement https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/special-easter-egg-exhibit-at-the-white-house-in-collaboration-with-americas-egg-farmers-celebrates-national-guard-children-302104013.html
I guess I could do more research.
5 will get you 10 that the 2023 contest, which the American Egg Board also sponsored had the same requirement, and nobody squawked.
I could look up the Federal Regulations and quote them to you.
5 will get you 10 that other Checkoff organizations use the exact same language if they hold contests for art/essays whatever.
But I’ve wasted enough time on my holiday. If folks are interested, you’ve got computers and you are on the internet.
In the meantime, I think its time to shut down the outrage machine.
Happy Easter
Happy Passover
Happy Ramadan
Happy Humanist Spring
And on this date in 1492 Ferdinand and Isabella issued an edict expelling Jews from Spanish soil, EXCEPT those of course who were willing to convert. Separation of church and state may not always be a bad thing. Take it away Torquemada.
Oh man, Stu. Got played on this one.
Emily Metz, president and CEO of the American Egg Board, a group that supports the White House Egg Roll, said in a statement, “The American Egg Board has been a supporter of the White House Easter Egg Roll for over 45 years and the guideline language referenced in recent news reports has consistently applied to the board since its founding, across administrations.”
https://www.yahoo.com/news/conservatives-shell-long-standing-white-182313546.html
Waiting for the same criticisms to be leveled at Trump, not to mention those notorious woke anti-Christians Bush and Reagan.
Kinda hilarious that the same folks who claim they never believe the media, believe it immediately when it jives with their pre-conceived notions.
I’m not sure how I got “played” on this, if that is what you are saying.
Well, all the impressions and implications were that this was some kind of Biden idea:
Your question: “Why would an administration headed by a president who calls himself a good Catholic want to dechristianize a Christian holiday?”
The factual answer is that the question is unwarranted, and (I’m sorry) misleading. Neither he nor his administration did anything to “dechristianize” Easter, and there is zero reason to believe Biden, or his administration “wanted” to do so.
I’ll tell you, my first reaction was “what stupid little woke White House intern or idiot staff member was tasked with setting up the contest? This person has gotta be fired!”
So I looked at it, and to my surprise, learned that it wasn’t an administration program and was, instead sponsored and run by the American Egg Board, as it had been for years. Then, that the restriction was not insisted on by the White House, but was part and parcel of its status under federal law which prohibits it from political and religious sponsorship (all it can do is promote eggs as a product–it can’t lobby, make political contributions, promote Sharia law etc).
Also, it is clear that “inclusion” has nothing to do with it. The restrictions have been in place 45 years, that is, long before “inclusion” became the buzzword it is today.
There is certainly a reasonable argument to be had about when or whether the Establishment Clause of the Constitution has overly or unreasonably limited government’s involvement with religion. I certainly agree that religious imagery in an Easter egg competition at the White House ought to be perfectly fine. I’m not a “zero tolerance” because of “slippery slope” type guy. I don’t think letting some kid put a cross on an Easter egg is going to result in compulsory Christianity or even mandated prayer in public schools.
[Unrelated story: I was a Boy Scout in the troop that met at my synagogue. Weird thing was, I was the only Jewish kid in the troop! But whenever there was a scoutmaster meeting or some other group or club that wanted ecumenical opening prayers, folks would call my scout master to get a Scout (“a Scout is reverent”) to do a Jewish one. So I have nothing against public prayer, especially when, as was usually the case back then, I get a free meal out of it,]
The right wing spin was “Here’s the anti-religious woke Biden banning religious symbols from an Easter celebration.”
That’s what I got from “Just the News” which it quite apparently isn’t. A real article about the subject would have started “For 45 years, federal law has prevented religious symbols from appearing on Easter eggs at the White House Easter celebration.” It would have explored why that was so, perhaps opined that it was stupid or wrong, and suggested a fix (which “vote against Biden” is certainly not) that would work in our constitutional context. Easy enough for the GOP (barely) controlled House to pass a fix allowing “Checkoff” organizations to promote religion in limited appropriate contexts. An article like that would have earned them a bookmark.
I won’t say you were played, but misled a bit, yes, I think so.
Check my other response, Tom. As to the Egg board, yes, I knew about it but did not find it relevant. Nor did I find Jill’s “eggucational” theme noteworthy.
My comment was directed specifically at the art contest. I don’t know if THAT ban went back 45 years, but I oppose it.
## My Scout troop didn’t have prayers, but my PUBLIC school did and assembly started with the pledge of allegiance and the XXIII Psalm. Neither did me any harm.
Update: Daily Caller retracts Easter Egg story. https://dailycaller.com/2024/03/29/white-house-religious-easter-egg-designs-national-guard-art-contest-biden/
“Following the publication of this article, the Daily Caller became aware of additional context that undercut the central assertion of this article and its newsworthiness. The ban of religious symbolism on eggs as part of the White House Easter egg activities has been longstanding, dating back decades, and the Biden administration did not make any modifications to this rule. While the Caller did not explicitly state at any point that the rule was new, THIS ADDITIONAL CONTEXT RENDERED THE MAIN THRUST OF THE ARTICLE MISLEADING TO READERS, who could reasonably have come to the conclusion that the rule was new. [my capitalization]
With that additional context included, the news value of the article was significantly diminished, leading the senior leadership at the Caller to the decision to retract. We sincerely regret the error and are taking the necessary steps to ensure similar mistakes can be avoided in the future.”
I did not see its story, how it handled the “religious” issue.
There were two events here — the Easter celebration itself and the art contest that banned religious symbols. I provided a link to the flyer so readers could see where it came from and what it said.
The fact that the Easter ban on religion was longstanding does not make it right, and the Biden administration was free to change it. My criticism was directed at the administration, not Biden. I don’t think that is splitting hairs.
It does go back 45 years. Contests, or no, the American Egg Board has furnished painted Easter Eggs selected by competition or otherwise at every White House celebration– free of religious symbolism.
And the “Biden Administration was free to change it” is not really true. It can’t just order The American Egg Board to change its practices. It is made up of industry members. It is not an arm of the presidency.
The USDA does have regulatory authority over Checkoff organizations. So what you are really saying is: months and months in advance of the event, there should have a task force set up to write a special rule at the USDA (which has nothing better to do), publish it in the Federal Register for comment, and defend any lawsuit that might result.
And how do you craft the rule? Do you provide Checkoff organizations carte blanche to promote religion? Should the Pork Board be allowed to sponsor efforts to convert Jews and Muslims to expand the market? Or, can a majority of any of the boards just decide to tithe 10% of its members’ contributions to a particular church as promotional expenses?
Or do you go through all that just to write a rule that says “it’s ok for the Egg Board to promote religion, but only at the White House Egg Roll”?
But if you do just that, what’s wrong with Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, or Buddhist themed eggs? To avoid dechristianizing the competition, don’t you have to exclude non-Christian symbols as well? (The Mormons celebrate Easter. They don’t use the cross, but have an iconography specific to Mormonism–is that in or out? What about other sectarian symbols, or specific statements of faith? )
If you don’t exclude other religious symbols, or written credos when it comes to judging the contest, can you favor Christian-themed eggs over others? Can the winner ever be a great design that’s not overtly Christian, without “dechristianizing” the whole thing?
You can see why this is a can of worms that the Egg Board just did not want to open.
I think one can also see that is just one way that the Establishment Clause turns out to protect, rather than damage religion–just as the Founders intended.
By staying out of it, the government ensures that Easter stays Easter, and a private matter of faith, rather than a client of the government.
As I said, in this particular instance, it should be fine for a kid put a cross on a egg in Easter Egg submission. However, because of what the law says, sometimes senseless stuff happens–like tossing out 10,000 otherwise good votes because a date was left off the envelope–because, per the design of the Founders, we are a government of laws and not men.
If it had been a pure White House function, sans the Egg Board, it would have been unnecessary and stupid to insert the type of legal boilerplate that an organization needs to protect itself. The judgments could have been made internally, and without fuss. But that would have tossed away 45 years of tradition, and punished the Egg Board for nothing.
Also, there are other ways than egg design to acknowledge Easter. Biden said:
“Easter reminds us of the power of hope and renewal, sacrifice and resurrection, but mainly love and grace toward one another. It’s time to pray for one another, to cherish the blessings and the possibilities that we have as Americans.” Resurrection? Pray? Love and Grace? Sounds pretty Christian/religious-themed to me.
(Trump, apparently due to his profound reverence, chose the Easter celebration to talk about building the wall).
But if it’s not on an egg, that doesn’t count? That’s the only place Easter can be vindicated?
On the long-standing issue:
You can scroll through every White House Easter egg display dating back to the Carter administration (another “dechristianizing” administration?) and you won’t find a single cross on one.
Let’s review: In 2019, under Trump, the American Egg Board took submissions for Easter Egg designs from the children of America’s egg farmers–same rules.
Trump’s running for office again.
So do you agree that this is a fair question:
“Why would an administration headed by a president who purports to champion Evangelical Christians want to dechristianize a Christian holiday? To rub in the fact that he’s an unrepentant serial adulterer, accused (and now adjudicated) sexual-assaulter and liar who thinks ‘The Ten Commandments’ is no more than the title of a movie he’s never seen?”
Trump is (still) selling commemorative eggs from the White House Easter celebrations ($169 for 5) with his name, no cross, on them. From the designs they could just as easily be golf balls–though you can probably buy those too.
Is this actively dechristianizing Easter? Open for debate.
More generally, you’ve got to criticize every administration from Carter onward for not catching and changing this rule.
What is misleading, and why the Daily Caller retracted its story is that its article (and, in fairness, yours) made it seem a special sin of the Biden administration, likely motivated by some misguided application of “inclusion” or inexplicable anti-religiousness by the administration.
Did you misstate a single fact? Absolutely not. Did you give readers (and me) enough information to judge the issue for myself. Most indubitably.
I just think that there is a big difference between the failure to detect and fix a problem (if problem it is) that has been around for 45 years without a single complaint, and making the conscious decision to institute it with the intention of trying to send some political message.
Do you disagree?
I bet President Trump will change the rule back to what they were — crosses EVERYWHERE. And why not?
I’ll take that as your answer that you don’t disagree about the difference.
As for your pivot from the past blame-casting to a possible future, I wouldn’t be surprised to see Trump with a cross, though someone will have to make sure he doesn’t hold it upside down. (And, he will probably have to buy one first).
But my suspicion is that, in the unfortunate event he is elected, he probably won’t have an egg decoration competition, simply avoiding the issue. (If present, he’ll get his crosses elsewhere.)
Doubtless Biden won’t have another competition either.
Let’s check in same time next year. The stakes are bragging rights. (Then we can another argument over who won!)
Trump has egg rolls in the past. https://www.usatoday.com/story/life/2019/04/22/trump-white-house-easter-egg-roll/3537787002/
And under same “art contest” rules. So, the question is will 47 — either man — rewrite the rules?
I say… Biden, no. Trump, yes. And I would not be surprised to see a Bible sale vooth at the event. HIS Bible, of course.
I’m Jewish so I don’t have a horse in this race. But, I prefer Christians who are all inclusive. So, I will take my all inclusive President over one who hawks bibles while he brags about grabbing women by the pussy.
What do you mean by inclusivity? If you mean inclusive in the sense that everyone is welcome to come to church and hear the Word of God with the hope that they might repent and turn to Him, I agree. If you mean inclusive in the sense that the church should enable those who are living in outright sin, by including them in our sacraments, appointing them as pastors and priests, then you need to re-read your Bible.
I believe our definition of sin differs. I notice you had no comment about the bible hawker.
DebF, I too would love to read what SaraT thinks about that orange-skinned POS doing that.
H. Bogart just scroll up and you will see where she comes from.🙄
Thanks DebF. I have seen enough of her postings to know where her priorities 𝗟𝗜𝗘.
I also didn’t mention RFK Jr. Neither was relevant to what I wrote.
I may in the future if he keeps talking about wanting a “Christian nation.” That leaves me and a LOT of other people out.