Churches Urge to restore the Religious Christian Values for Easter
For many Christian countries, Easter is definitely an important festival and people can enjoy long holidays. On the street, Easter bunnies and chocolate eggs are everywhere. However, the church, where the true meaning of Easter should be found and celebrate, looks very quiet.
More than a quarter of a million travelers were expected to pass through Scotland's airports over the Easter weekend.
Church leaders admitted that the holiday was becoming increasingly secular. Professor Ian Torrance, the Moderator of the Church of Scotland, said the situation was "a worry".
"I really don't believe the message of Easter has been swamped by the kind of commercialism we see at Christmas. ?Professor Ian said the religious message of Easter had not been drowned out to the same extent as that of the "commercialized" Christmas festival.
"I can understand that many people go on holiday at the spring break, but that's quite a different thing from the wholesale commercialism which you see at Christmas."
In Edinburgh, there is also a large number of passengers passing through the Edinburgh airport, it is expected to exceed 102, 000 according to the airport operator BAA.
Edinburgh people may enjoy a longer Easter starting from next year. Meanwhile, authorities in Edinburgh have unveiled proposals to break for the Easter Holidays in the first two weeks of April, and the Easter Sunday will fall outside of this period. The purpose of this arrangement is to help the school and family to plan schedule well. This is a further sign of the secularization of the holiday.
BAA spokesman also commented that, "traditionally Easter is not a particularly busy time for the Scottish airports. The English tend to celebrate Easter more than the Scots.?However, this year they see a larger number of travelers from Scotland than usual.
Church leaders stressed the importance of Easter in the religious calendar.
Prof Torrance even emphasized that it was "at the heart of Christian belief".
A spokesman for the Scottish Episcopal Church said, “It would be unfortunate if people lost sight of the importance of Easter.?He admitted that Edinburgh's move towards fixed holidays was a further sign of the increasing secularisation of Easter.
Speaking the true meaning of the Easter holiday, he addressed, "Easter is becoming a very popular time for people to take holidays abroad. Our hope is that people use their holiday time to reflect on the importance of faith."
Thanks to the film “The Passion of the Christ?that it has highlighted the religious significance of Easter worldwide, but the real situation is really different now. As well as the exodus of Scots, thousands of tourists were expected to be coming in the opposite direction.