City Hall Evicts Easter Bunny

St. Paul civil rights chief says non-Christians might find the holiday decoration offensive

So long, Easter Bunny.

A toy rabbit decorating the entrance of the St. Paul City Council offices went hop-hop-hoppin' on down the bunny trail Wednesday after the city's human rights director said non-Christians might be offended by it.

The decorations — including the stuffed rabbit, Easter eggs and a handcrafted sign saying "Happy Easter," but nothing depicting the biblical account of Christ's death and resurrection — were put up this week in the office of the City Council by a council secretary.

Mitchell at Our Word has some well chosen thoughts on the story.

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Considering that this story was one of the most read articles in the U.S. yesterday and today, 210 articles showing up on Google News, there was remarkably little creativity in headline writing:

St. Paul City Office Boots Easter Bunny
Harebrained offense
Look out, we might get rabbit punched by 'Daily Show'
One city’s bunny ban lays an egg
Be afraid, be very afraid
Easter Bunny Offensive?
Easter Bunny Evicted From St. Paul City Hall
Seperation Of Church And State Kills Easter Bunny [sic]
Easter bunny paraded out of City Hall
Easter Eviction at St. Paul City Hall
The Easter Bunny gets the boot
Easter Display Removed From St. Paul City Hall
Easter Bunny Banned From MN City Hall
CITY HALL EVICTS EASTER BUNNY

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One wonders why a city named Saint Paul, with streets named Cretin (Bishop), John Ireland (Archbishop), Galtier (Bishop) and St. Peter, would bother to observe the dictates of a bureaucrat. Can you imagine a judge telling a city that size that it would have to change its name? As much as they hate the Catholic Church, even the San Francisco Board of Supervisors doesn’t have that much courage.

Minnesota also has St. Croix, St. Peter, San Francisco, St. Anthony, St. Augusta, St. Bonifacius, St. Catherine’s, St. Charles, St. Clair, St. Cloud, St. Columba, St. Francis, St. George, St. Hilaire, St. Hubert, St. James, St. John’s, St. Joseph, St. Lawrence, St. Leo, St. Louis, St. Martin, St. Mary, St. Mathias, St. Michael, St. Nicholas, St. Olaf, St. Paul Park, St. Albans, St. Pierre, St. Stephen, St. Vincent, St. Wendel, Hennepin (priest), St. Marie, etc. And of course many of those names are used in variation more than once.

We do have a small city named Sacred Heart. But they can get by with that one. It actually was intended to be "Sacred Hat", named after a trader who wore a bearskin hat. Being that the bear was a sacred animal to the Dakota, they naturally called him the Sacred Hat man. Somehow, like many of our ancestors' names when they arrived in this country, the name got changed to something different.