Passion, Lament, Glory at Melbourne’s St. Paul’s Cathedral in 2017.
Sarah Walker
Each year at Easter, Christians recreate the spectacularly violent end of Jesus’s life, raising some tough questions about the depiction of suffering on stage.
Taking your Easter egg hunt to the park is one way of getting some exercise and reclaiming Easter from the chocolate companies at the same time.
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Our Easter chocolate tradition is costing our waistlines, our health and our economy. So what can we do to wrestle back Easter from the chocolate industry?
Younger Australians seem particularly inclined to say they have ‘no religion’.
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In recent years, Australians appear to have become both more willing to declare themselves religious, and more willing to say they have no religion.
A penitent of the Blood Fraternity arrives to Santo Angel church to do penance as part of Holy Week celebrations in Cordoba, southern Spain.
EPA/Rafa Alcaide
The rituals of Semana Santa during Easter Week bring Spain together and allow people to exorcise the country’s ghosts.
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It’s all about what you do after you indulge.
What is the true nature of temptation?
EightBitTony
While temptation can be an invitation to sin, experiencing temptation can also make us consider more deeply: What is it that tempts us and why?
Orthodox Easter in Syria.
EPA/BADAWI
Christian calendars usually differ when it comes to Easter celebrations – but not in 2017.
What is the origin of Easter eggs?
Katie Morrow
A scholar explains the rich historical roots of Easter and how it has evolved over the centuries.
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Chocolate is so much more than ‘junk food’ and should be respected as part of a healthy diet.
EPA/Michael Reichel
Once again, Nigel Farage and his conservative allies are rushing to the defence of ‘British values’. Needlessly, as it turns out.
The last census revealed that just over 60% of Australians identified as Christian, but only one in seven of those attended church regularly.
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Church affiliation and attendance is on the wane in Australia – a trend that is unlikely to be reversed be the recent slew of sex abuse scandals.
Also available in chocolate.
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What on Earth have chocolate rabbits got to do with Easter? Rather a lot, actually.
Detail Da Vinci’s The Last Supper by Giacomo Raffaelli. Judas seated second right.
Alberto Fernandez Fernandez [GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html), CC BY 2.5 via Wikimedia Commons
Judas has had a 2,000-year raw deal. Here’s why it’s time for a rethink.
The Venerable Bede.
The Venerable Bede translates John 1902; James Doyle Penrose (1862-1932); Wikimedia
The medieval English scholar was a devoted student of Computus – the calculation of the date of Easter.
Peter Gertner Crucifixion Walters.
The sources offer an intriguing – and surprising – insight.
Helfin Owen
Because chocolate gifts need their glasnost too.
Forty days in the wilderness: Temptations of Christ, St Mark’s Basilica.
Lent is inextricably linked to Jesus’s 40 days in the wilderness, right? In fact, it’s not that simple.
A Christmas service in Manhattan.
Mike Segar /REUTERS
How should we celebrate Christmas during a time when religious extremism inspires terrorist attacks and young people are abandoning the church?
Spirit of Easter
Why do chocolate makers and other food producers use unsustainably grown palm oil? You can blame health-conscious consumers looking for alternatives to trans fats.
The proposition that Easter is a 100% Christian affair is manifestly unsustainable.
Hartwig HKD
The proposition that Easter is a 100% Christian affair is manifestly unsustainable. It shows an ignorance of history. Worse, it shows a failure to understand the way religious traditions work.