A Pennsylvania town is fighting over whether to call its children’s event an Easter egg hunt.
Easton, Pennsylvania, is reintroducing mentions of Easter on its social media accounts promoting local egg hunt events, the city’s mayor announced on Thursday, less than 24 hours after Luis Campos, the city administrator, said the city removed the word over concerns about the separation of church and state.
“After discussion with Council on Wednesday evening, the administration followed up with our attorneys, and the word ‘Easter’ will remain in our announcements about the Easter Egg Hunt,” Easton Mayor Sal Panto Jr. wrote in a Facebook post on Thursday.
Campos spoke up at a Wednesday City Council meeting, announcing the revision out of a desire to reflect the city’s neutrality, according to Lehigh Valley Live. Campos revised the posts after a resident complained about the word’s Christian connotations, he said.
There should not be a problem “as long as we don’t contribute money to the advancement of one particular religion or endorse one over the other,” City Solicitor Joel Scheer said during the meeting. Scheer offered to create a guide for the city to use when handling displays of religion if the board wanted, but he noted it would not be ready in time for Easter weekend.
Local-level religious liberty cases have played an essential part in legal discourse regarding the separation of church and state. The Supreme Court has ruled that religious displays are allowed on public property if they meet certain criteria, including those with “secular” imagery such as Santa Claus or Frosty.
Representatives from Easton did not respond to requests for comment from the Washington Examiner.
