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(April 7) -- A Rhode Island public school has decided the Easter bunny is too Christian and renamed him Peter Rabbit, and a state legislator is so hopping mad he has introduced an "Easter Bunny Act" to save the bunny's good name.
"Like many Rhode Islanders I'm quite frustrated by people trying to change traditions that we've held in this country for 150 years, like the Easter bunny," Rhode Island State Rep. Richard Singleton told "Good Morning America Weekend Edition."
The Easter bunny was scheduled to make an appearance at a craft fair on Saturday at Tiverton Middle School in Tiverton, R.I.
But the district's schools Superintendent William Rearick told event organizers to change the bunny's name to Peter Rabbit in "an attempt to be conscious of other people's backgrounds and traditions."
Singleton struck back this week by proposing a bill, nicknamed the "Easter Bunny Act," to stop all local municipalities from changing the name of popular religious and secular symbols like the Easter bunny.
"The underlying theme here is serious," he said. "I don't think a superintendent of schools should have the authority to change something we've held so deeply for 150 years."
Not everyone in Rhode Island, however, believes the Easter bunny is worth fighting for.
"As a Christian symbol, I would say [the Easter bunny] is not one of those that I would go to the barricades to defend," Rev. Bernard Healy, the Catholic Diocese of Providence, R.I., said in a statement.
Singleton, however, said the perceived religious symbolism versus its actual religious significance is why it shouldn't be banned.
"The Easter bunny is not a religious symbol," he said. "Why it's being banned doesn't make sense."
The American Civil Liberties Union has also spoken out the issue.
"Public schools should not be promoting Easter celebrations, and to the extent that the school districts try to avoid that problem they are to be commended," Steve Brown, the executive director of the ACLU Rhode Island affiliate, said in a statement.
Singleton, however, dismissed the ACLU's comments.
"I don't pay a lot of attention to what the ACLU says quite frankly," he said. This is "political correctness gone wild. 'It's crazy."
Singleton said the bill is meant to protect all traditional and religious symbols for example, if someone wanted to change "the name of the menorah to the candelabra."
The politician isn't positive that Peter Rabbit would have been the right replacement anyway.
"By the way, Peter Rabbit stole cabbages and that's not a good role model for our kids," he joked.
It just seems like that state governments are trying to tear apart our childhood. 
Quote:
"By the way, Peter Rabbit stole cabbages and that's not a good role model for our kids," he joked.
No, Peter Rabbit was Jesus' most treasured disciple, one of the twelve apostles, and the world's first Pope. Doesn't South Park teach anyone ANYTHING?
Seriously, though, shame on the school for being so blatantly PC, but this legislation... without reading the middle part of the article, it already sounds superfluous. Yay for frivolous legislation!
BTW "Most" would've worked better than "Even-est".
Even ignoring yet another example of the continuing trend of political correctness gone mad, the easter bunny's Christian now? Bulls**t. The only Christian symbol associated with Easter is, well, Christ. All the rabbits and eggs and things are pagan fertility symbols. Festival of new life and all that.
Funny, I wasn't aware that the Easter Bunny had become a Christian symbol.
As usual, PC goes even madder. What are they going to do next? Ban Santa Claus?
Do you reckon the school will be paying royalties to the estate of Beatrix Potter? Or are those characters all public domain now?
And surely someone should be complaining about them using fictional characters and therefore providing product placement? 
DW
They already banned Santa. Haven't you noticed, classic Coke ads have Santa, but now they have Polar Bears?
Screw the Easter Bunny. I knew he was Christian.
