as a non-Christian with a deep love of Christ's teachings, Easter is a strange one for me... i have always loved the resurrection story, much as i love the nativity... but both of these stories, to me, are allegorical and symbolic... they represent the power of faith, love, innocence, and the power of the great i am... of mystery... I've been trying to put down my thoughts about easter as they relate to our current events... here is what i came up with...
When Christians talk about the resurrection, it’s natural to see it as the center of the faith, a sign of God’s power. Across history and into the present, some Christian movements have treated the resurrection as decisive proof that Christianity alone holds divine authority, a logic that has been used to justify everything from the Crusades, to missionary domination to modern Christian nationalism. When the resurrection becomes a credential for superiority rather than a symbol of transformative love, it stops reflecting Jesus and starts reflecting empire. I don’t believe the resurrection was meant to float above history as a kind of cosmic trophy. It happened inside a very real world, under a very real empire, to a man whose way of living challenged the systems people depended on. Remembering that context doesn’t diminish the miracle; it actually deepens it.
When the resurrection gets pulled out of that context, it can turn into something abstract, it becomes a proof to defend, a badge of validity, or a reason to claim that Christianity should hold cultural or political primacy. That’s where things get dangerous. Using the resurrection as evidence that Christians have spiritual validity over others is not only historically disconnected, it runs against the spirit of Jesus’ life. He wasn’t trying to build a ruling class; he was revealing a way of being that made systems of domination unnecessary.
And alongside the Christian story, it’s also worth remembering that this seasonal ritual has carried meaning long before Christianity - in the old festivals of Ostara, the rites of spring, and the celebrations of thaw, fertility, and returning light. Those traditions honor the earth’s own resurrection: seeds waking, animals birthing, the world shaking off winter’s grip. Holding these stories together doesn’t diminish the Christian hope; it roots it in the wider human experience of renewal. It reminds us that resurrection, in all its forms, is part of a much older rhythm - one that belongs to the whole earth, not just one faith.
If we keep the historical context in view, the resurrection becomes something far more challenging and beautiful, it becomes a symbol of the transcendent and transformational power of love. It shows what happens when a life rooted in compassion, humility, and justice confronts the powers of its time - and those powers fail to stop it. That’s not a mandate for Christians to dominate society; it’s a reminder that God’s love keeps rising wherever systems try to bury it. That kind of resurrection is still revolutionary today, and it’s exactly why movements that seek political control in the name of Christ should be approached with caution. They’re repeating the logic of the very systems Jesus disrupted.
