A furious archbishop has accused a major charity of “spitting” on Christian heritage by airbrushing the word “Easter” out of an upcoming holiday event.
John Sentamu, the Archbishop of York, took aim at the UK’s National Trust, which for the first time attempted to market a children’s Easter event without mentioning the festival by name.
The trust, a non-profit which preserves historic castles, gardens, abbeys and other sites, invites children every year to take part in an Easter Egg Hunt.
During the event, children look for chocolate eggs – a seasonal gift which signifies the rebirth of Christ – hidden around the grounds of the majestic British properties.
However, this year the Trust gave the event a corporate rebrand, instead calling it “Cadbury’s Great British Egg Hunt”, a reference to the Cadbury chocolate brand which supplies the eggs.
The switch – part of a wider trend which has seen Easter’s Christian roots de-emphasized – enraged Archbishop Sentamu, who said it was a disgrace to the Christian faith of founder John Cadbury.
He told the Daily Telegraph: “He 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.
“To drop Easter from Cadbury’s Easter Egg Hunt in my book is tantamount to spitting on the grave of Cadbury.”
British Prime Minister Theresa May – whose father was a clergyman – weighed in on the controversy, and said the National Trust’s stance was “ridiculous”.
Both the National Trust and Cadbury denied “airbrushing” Christianity out of the event, and said the word “Easter” was mentioned elsewhere in their marketing material.
