Easter and the State of Christendom | The American Spectator

Something spiritual is happening this Easter. Christ is risen, indeed. But so is Christianity around the world, despite the best efforts of the secular Left and pagan fanatics to undermine it.

In Europe, Africa, and the Americas, faith demonstrations are surging after a long decline. It’s like the Christianization of the Roman Empire all over again — tragically including the slaughter of the faithful. (RELATED: Fresh Horror in Nigeria: The Return of Boko Haram)

In Spain, for instance, socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez tried to end the Semana Santa (Holy Week) tradition of male-only float bearers. Not because he and his ilk had a preferred way to worship Jesus, but to strike at the worship itself. “Holy Week must be egalitarian,” declared Equality Minister Ana Redondo. You read it right — Equality Minister — a title only a socialist dreamland would fabricate. (RELATED: What’s Wrong With Spain? It’s Pedro Sánchez.)

What has been the result of the government’s interference? A 163-percent increase from last year in international bookings for the ritual — 279-percent for the similarly beset British Christian tourists — and more fervent, massive crowds. Plus, one more thing — only men carrying the floats, in defiance of the Equality Minister.

The continent of Africa now has the fastest-growing Christian population in the world. More than a million pilgrims have gathered in Moria, South Africa, to celebrate this Easter weekend. Even as their brothers and sisters in Nigeria get massacred by Muslim militants, close to 5,000 in 2025. Unlike their murderers, they will see the face of the Lord.

Perhaps the starkest contrast between a Christian-hostile leadership and traditionalist worshippers is in pathetic once great Britain. The Labour and London governments have made it pretty rough on believers. From police arresting them for holding or citing the Bible in public to its leaders forsaking them for an anti-Christian cult.

The worst offender may be the sad shell of an English monarch, King Charles III. Charles has been an ardent endorser of Islam, and last February, he delivered a gushing Ramadan tribute: “I just wanted to convey my heartfelt best wishes to you all… and express just how greatly the contribution of Muslims to the life of the United Kingdom is appreciated and valued.” (RELATED: King Charles’ Easter Message Accelerates Britain’s Fall)

The fact that the Muslim contribution to the U.K. has been rape gangs, violent attacks, and the pursuit of Sharia Law went unsaid by the King. But Christians hoped his inspiring Easter message would provide some welcome balance. Only there won’t be a royal Easter message. “Buckingham Palace has confirmed King Charles will not issue an Easter message this year,” read the official proclamation.

Certainly, Charles has done poorly by his full royal title, Fidel Defensor, “Defender of the Faith.” The honor applies to the British monarch’s traditional role as head of the Church of England. The Church was a unifying influence for centuries throughout the whole British Empire, including our American derivations.

But now it too is a pathetic remnant of that institution, and a feeble bulwark against an aggressive Islam. For numerous reasons, most prominently, the first female Archbishop of Canterbury, who corrupts Scripture to promote feminist and LGBTQ ideology. No wonder the Church has seen an 18 percent drop in Sunday attendance since the already record-low 2019. (RELATED: The New Archbishop of Canterbury — Mrs. Mullally)

Yet there’s hope this Easter for a renewed Christian Britain. Not from the hollow Church of England but from the vibrant Church of Rome. In the Archdiocese of Westminster, close to 800 adults from over a hundred parishes were received into the Catholic Church — a 60 percent increase from last year, and the highest number in 15 years. Ditto, the Archdiocese of Southwark, where 600 adults just became Catholic. How ironic that King Charles, a direct descendant of Mary, Queen of Scots, who lost her head and Catholicism as a state religion, may be partly responsible for restoring it. (RELATED: The Emerald Revival: Catholicism Surges in Modern Ireland)

America could have gone the way of England. Two years ago, it almost did. The radically secular Biden administration went on the offensive against the faithful. Not just indirectly, by promoting anti-Christian values like abortion, homosexual marriage, and the trans agenda, but directly. Who can forget — other than Democrats — the Biden FBI memo targeting orthodox Catholics, Interest of Racially or Ethnically Motivated Violent Extremists in Radical-Traditionalist Catholic Ideology? Or rules forcing Catholic doctors to perform abortions, and Catholic orphanages to bestow children to same-sex couples?

That all changed last year with the return of the most pro-Christian president in a century. And last week, the U.S. Supreme Court gave America an Easter present. It decided 8-1 that a perverted Colorado ban on Christian therapists telling patients the truth about their sex was unconstitutional.

And Donald Trump, unlike King Charles, did deliver an Easter message: “I’m delighted to join the countless Christians across the country and around the world as we prepare to celebrate a thing called Happy Easter … Easter is one of the incredible days. It was the miracle. … You have to have religion and you have to have God. That’s why this Easter we are bringing back religion to America.” Now we can all proclaim, “He is risen!”

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