To help usher in Easter, University of North Texas students planned an Easter egg hunt that was not warmly accepted by other students.
The Sunday before Easter, students in Young Conservatives of Texas hid 250 Easter eggs containing Bible verses around campus. While the members were excited to host a non-controversial event to get students excited about Easter, the activity was greeted with backlash online, with one message even telling the YCT chairman to kill herself.
Only hours after the posting about the event, YCT Chairman Kelly Neidert received a message reading, “congrats! kill yourself and get your head out of you’re [sic] a** queen.”
The event itself was also criticized by UNT students on Twitter, Facebook, and UNT’s mobile app that has a social media feature. Posts called for students to stomp on the eggs and throw them away.
The posts were criticized by Texas Values on Twitter: “This attack on Christians at a Texas public university is unacceptable. Christian students shouldn’t have to fear for their life just for using their First Amendment rights to reference the Bible. More evidence that some people want to #BanTheBible.”
Criticisms against the organization included individuals who did not like the Christian message as well as those who did not think a conservative organization could represent Christianity. While one online post referenced using the Bible verses as toilet paper, another took issue with an “intolerant group filled with judgement and hate [that] is passing around Jesus’s message.”
YCT member Jake J. stated, “All we wanted to do was bring a little cheer to people by finding an egg and reading a Bible verse. What these people are saying, that they’re going to ‘stomp on the eggs,’ is frankly disgusting. We’re doing this for a Christian holiday. What else would they expect in the eggs?”
Jake’s question was answered by a student who did not think an Easter egg hunt should be tied to Christianity.
“While I think the Easter egg hunt is a wonderful idea, I do think we need to be mindful that there are people from different religions on this campus, so perhaps in the future, y’all could consider filling the eggs with chocolate or something,” stated the online critic.
Neidert noted the irony and defended the decision to put Bible verses in the Easter eggs.
“I do not understand how we could have done the event without putting verses in the eggs or tying it back to Jesus or the Bible in some way,” she said. “It’s impossible and pointless to celebrate Easter without acknowledging the biblical aspect—the holiday is literally meant for celebrating Christ.”
