The Biden administration is claiming that conservative critics of its Easter Egg ban on religious symbols and themes are wrong, and that this policy has been observed by previous administrations.
They are the ones who are wrong. We proved it on April 3rd: click here to read our news release on this subject and see for yourself a picture of a Catholic missionary shrine that was painted on the New Mexico Easter Egg submission in 2002. It obviously passed muster with the administration of President George W. Bush.
The White House is now saying that it is following the rules established by the American Egg Board (AEB), and officials there say they are following rules established by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).
Searching for “Easter Egg Roll” on the USDA website yields articles such as, “How long can I store bread?” There is one titled, “White House Easter Egg Roll”; it is about the 2018 event. When trying to access it, the reader is taken to “Page Not Found.”
Why was this page scrubbed?
On Easter Sunday, March 31, AEB released a statement about the history of this annual White House celebration. The one reference to religion says this event does not show “preference to any individual religious or political viewpoints as AEB is prohibited from doing as a national Checkoff organization.” [Checkoff organizations are USDA entities that promote research about agricultural commodities without endorsing producers or brands.]
It makes sense that AEB cannot show “preference to any individual religious or political viewpoints.” It’s a government agency. But that hardly settles the issue.
Public school teachers cannot show preference to any religion. But they are also banned from stopping students from religious expression. If a student in a music or art class decides to sing a religious hymn or draw a religious symbol, the teacher has no legal right to stop him.
Similarly, it is one thing for AEB not to promote religion; it is quite another for it, or the USDA, to prohibit individuals from depicting a religious theme in a government-sponsored event.
The White House is wrong historically and constitutionally. And the media are just as corrupt for not reporting this story accurately.
Contact the White House Press Secretary: Karine.Jean-Pierre@who.eop.gov
