Crucify the Easter Bunny

I posted this article over in the Vagrant Cafe a few days ago, and it quickly grew into a massive (and stimulating) debate on religious pluralism and relativism — funny how memes take on a life of their own.

The article is titled “Easter Bunny whipped at church show; some families upset” (which right there sounds like something out of a Kevin Smith movie), and it’s about exactly what you might think. A church decides to make a point about a particular issue, a point that may be all fine and good, and goes about doing so in a way that I think most would find somewhat questionable.

I’m all for churches pushing boundaries and trying new, even irreverent things — but the key word here is “responsibility”. That, and “Know your audience,” especially if said audience is going to include small children who aren’t going to necessarily catch that this was done in an irreverent tone. They’re just going to see a fuzzy bunny getting tortured, and I’d hate to be a parent trying to explain that one.

Every time I read an article like this, part of me wants to laugh at the sheer lunacy of it all while another part of me just wants to shake my head in disbelief and hope that it was only children in the audience, and not some broken individual looking for an example of mercy and grace.

Update: The original article link no longer works. Here’s an alternate source.