Most Believe in Jesus Christ’s Resurrection, New Poll Finds

Jesus Christ

Nearly 70% of registered voters believe that Jesus Christ physically rose from the dead, and more than 70% plan to celebrate Easter this year, a new poll finds.

A Scott Rasmussen National Survey poll, conducted March 20 and 21 among 1,000 registered voters, found that 73% of respondents will celebrate Easter this year. When asked whether they would celebrate the holiday primarily as a religious holiday or as a secular holiday, 56% of participants responded with religious, 16% said secular, and 27% said both secular and religious equally.

Read the full story

Commentary: Easter Is the Greatest Holiday of All Time

Jesus Christ

Among world religions, only Christianity has a founder who professed to be the Messiah—the Son of God—who gave his life to save mankind.

The Easter weekend starts with Good Friday, the day God’s son Jesus was crucified to fulfill His plan to provide salvation from sin for those who believe in Christ. Easter Sunday is the celebration of Christ’s resurrection, the third day from his crucifixion death, and the completion of God’s plan for all to know who Jesus was.

Read the full story

Commentary: The Myth of the Pagan Origins of Easter

Jesus Christ

You may not get any chocolate bunnies this Easter, but you’re bound to stumble across an article or meme suggesting that the story of Jesus Christ’s resurrection from the dead is just a reincarnation of some pagan myth. Whether it’s Ishtar, Osiris, or Attis, these claims are tantalizing but devoid of scholarly content–much like the sugar rush of the chocolate bunny, with its deficit of actual nourishment.

Claims like these are at least as old as James Frazer’s The Golden Bough, published in 1890. However, they circulate routinely in new packaging. Unfortunately, the public tends to remain ignorant of the results of alternative scholarship. Sensationalism (like sex) sells. So does controversy. And when the sensation or the controversy revolves around beliefs that millions believe in whole-heartedly, sorting fact from fiction becomes increasingly difficult.

Read the full story

TDOT Will Halt Construction for Easter Weekend

Road construction

The Tennessee Department of Transportation (TDOT) will halt interstate construction beginning Thursday as travelers head to their Easter destinations. 

“TDOT crews and contractors will stop all road construction work that requires lane closures beginning Thursday, March 28, at 6:00 p.m. through Monday, April 1 at 6:00 a.m.,” a release from the department says. “This will provide maximum roadway capacity to motorists expected to travel across the state this upcoming holiday weekend.”

Read the full story

Commentary: The Meaning of Ash Wednesday

Ash Wednesday

Ash Wednesday is—oddly perhaps—a day I have long associated with bushfires, better known in the American hemisphere as wildfires.

I come from the Adelaide Hills in South Australia, where on Ash Wednesday in 1983, catastrophic bushfires, driven by 70-mph winds and fueled by years of drought-ravaged eucalyptus forest, tragically claimed 28 lives. In the neighboring state of Victoria, even more lives were lost under similar conditions. In total, 75 Australians perished and 3,000 homes were destroyed in what were the nation’s deadliest bushfires up to that point.

Read the full story

Commentary: The Evolution of Easter Eggs

A lot of Easter traditions – including hot cross buns and lamb on Sunday – stem from medieval Christian or even earlier pagan beliefs. The chocolate Easter egg, however, is a more modern twist on tradition.

Chicken eggs have been eaten at Easter for centuries. Eggs have long symbolised rebirth and renewal, making them perfect to commemorate the story of Jesus’ resurrection as well as the arrival of spring.

Read the full story

Holy Week Starts Off with Lots of Palms – but Palm Sunday’s Donkey Is Just as Important to the Story

For the Catholic Church and many other Christian denominations, the Sunday before Easter marks the beginning of the most important week of the year – “Holy Week,” when Christians reflect on central mysteries of their faith: Christ’s Last Supper, crucifixion and resurrection from the dead.

Palm Sunday commemorates the story of Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem shortly before the Jewish holiday of Passover. According to the Christian Gospels, people lined the streets to greet him, waving palm branches and shouting words of praise.

Read the full story

Catholic League: Secularists Are ‘Doubting the Resurrection But Not Pregnant Men’

Reflecting on the meaning of Easter, the president of the nation’s largest Catholic civil rights organization, questions how secularists can possibly doubt the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, “but not pregnant men.”

While faith is central to all religions, the Catholic League’s Bill Donohue observes “it is not on faith alone that the account of Jesus’ resurrection is persuasive.”

Read the full story

15th Annual Easter Sunrise Celebration on Government Property at Chicago’s Daley Plaza

Sunday will mark the 15th annual celebration of Easter on Chicago’s Daley Plaza – government property – including a sunrise service on Easter Sunday itself, to honor the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

This sacred observance of Easter begins at Daley Plaza on Holy Thursday, 7:30 p.m. CDT, when a giant 19-foot-high cross is erected at 50 West Washington Street.

Read the full story

Easter Eggs to Dye Will Be Hard to Find This Year

Egg prices continue to soar as the country approaches Easter weekend with more states experiencing H5N1 avian influenza A outbreaks, killing millions of birds.

Meat and egg producers in at least 24 states have experienced the worst avian flu outbreak since 2015, killing nearly 23 million birds and  driving the price of eggs and poultry even higher, according to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), USA Today reported.

Read the full story

Commentary: This Easter Let Us Celebrate Hope

On Easter, billions of people around the world will celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ – the most important day of the year for the Christian community.

Christians believe Jesus Christ was crucified, died, was buried, and rose from the dead. This act of selfless, sacrificial love for humanity is at the heart of Christianity. John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him might not perish but might have eternal life.” It is through Jesus Christ’s suffering, death, and resurrection that we are saved from sin and have hope for eternal life with God in Heaven.

Read the full story

Easter, Eostre, and the Unexpected Origins of Christians’ Celebration of Jesus’ Resurrection

by Brent Landau   Christians across the globe are celebrating Easter today – the day on which the resurrection of Jesus is said to have taken place. The date of celebration changes from year to year. The reason for this variation is that Easter always falls on the first Sunday after the first full moon following the spring equinox. So, in 2019, Easter will be celebrated on April 21, and on April 12 in 2020. I am a religious studies scholar specializing in early Christianity, and my research shows that this dating of Easter goes back to the complicated origins of this holiday and how it has evolved over the centuries. Easter is quite similar to other major holidays like Christmas and Halloween, which have evolved over the last 200 years or so. In all of these holidays, Christian and non-Christian (pagan) elements have continued to blend together. Easter As A Rite Of Spring Most major holidays have some connection to the changing of seasons. This is especially obvious in the case of Christmas. The New Testament gives no information about what time of year Jesus was born. Many scholars believe, however, that the main reason Jesus’ birth came to…

Read the full story

Commentary: Easter Egg Hunts and Deluded Political Ideologies

by Emma Elliott Freire   Ah, Easter egg hunts. They’re a fun, wholesome, all-American tradition. Or are they? As many parents can attest, Easter egg hunts also have a dark side. Last Saturday, my husband and I took our four-year-old daughter and two-year-old son to an Easter egg hunt sponsored by a local school. To our amazement, the kids had to hand all the eggs they’d found back to the organizer, who redistributed an equal number to everyone. In other words, this was a Communist Easter egg hunt! “From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs,” never felt so real. The worst part was that my four-year-old was already spontaneously sharing her eggs with her little brother. He was too small to get any of his own. But she loves him. And then her selflessness was derailed by coerced sharing. Moreover, she’d been targeting the pink eggs when she was searching. In the centralized redistribution, she only got blue ones. She complained for hours afterward. While I’m sad for her, I’m also glad her first significant experience with Communism was negative. If she ever flirts with the ideology when she’s older, I’ll remind her of this day.…

Read the full story

Commentary: Celebration of Easter and Passover

This weekend marks a Holy Week for many citizens across Tennessee and the world, as we celebrate Passover and Easter. In America, religious beliefs are critical to many of our founding principles. There is no denying the significant impact that faith has had on our nation, from the Puritans to our present day. America was “settled by men and women of deep religious convictions who in the seventeenth century crossed the Atlantic Ocean to practice their faith freely.” George Washington declared in his Farewell Address, that of “all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, Religion and morality are indispensable supports.” So, it is no surprise that as a nation, many of our citizens still embrace faith and trust in God. We pass along our faith rituals, habits, customs and traditions to our own children in our homes and places of worship. Passover begins at sundown on Friday, April 19, and ends Saturday evening, April 27. The first Passover Seder is on the evening of April 19, and the second Passover Seder takes place on the evening of April 20. Jewish people everywhere will sit with their families and friends for the celebration of Passover—a celebration of freedom.…

Read the full story