Easter Sunday for this atheist has always been about hunting, gathering and eating chocolate eggs, and today is no different. Except that this chocolate egg was a gift from my SO (significant other) so no hunting or gathering was required on my part, and because it is such a cosmic and creative egg that does not seem 'man made', but conjured by magic, it has got me thinking about the 'bigger' themes at work behind Easter. And when a confirmed atheist (and feminist) gets to thinking about the virgin birth, crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ with a stomach full of cosmic chocolate, this is what she comes up with: the Virgin Egg.
Bear with me if you will...
In the age-old puzzle of which comes first, the chicken or the egg, the Christian story answers: the chicken, except of course for the fact that the Christian chicken is a rooster-cock, although "chicken" can be a unisex term. God is the chicken rooster-cock, born free of the chicken-hen egg -- free of woman, therefore. In my angry atheist feminist moments I see this story and all religion as a concerted attempt on the part of all rooster-cocks to usurp the primary role of the female egg in the creation of all life. The primary role of the Virgin Egg (sans sperm) indeed. So from now on when anyone asks me which comes first, the chicken or the egg, I'm going to say emphatically, the egg -- the Virgin Egg.
That children and atheists celebrate Easter with chocolate eggs has never seemed particularly significant to me before. I have been overwhelmed and blinded in a way by the pleasure of the chocolate. But after eating this cosmic Virgin Egg (not quite all of it yet; it is bigger than my hand), I have seen the light and will now enjoy my chocolate eggs with a new sense of celebration. A celebration of life and the creative primacy of the female, no less. Something to think about...
Happy Atheist Easter!
Sacha
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