Bill Text: CA ACR175 | 2019-2020 | Regular Session | Introduced

California Assembly Concurrent Resolution 175 (Prior Session Legislation)

Introduced

Bill Title: Easter.

Spectrum: Slight Partisan Bill (Democrat 2-1)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2020-02-21 - From printer. [ACR175 Detail]

Download: California-2019-ACR175-Introduced.html

CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2019–2020 REGULAR SESSION

Assembly Concurrent Resolution

No. 175

Introduced by Assembly Members Cooley, Gallagher, and Grayson

February 20, 2020

Relative to Easter.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST

ACR 175, as introduced, Cooley. Easter.

This measure would commemorate the long history of Easter, its importance to the Christian faith, and would encourage all Californians to celebrate the Easter holiday.

Fiscal Committee: NO

WHEREAS, The celebration of Easter is a global practice that represents the high point of the ecclesiastical year in many Christian church traditions; and

WHEREAS, Easter, also called Resurrection Sunday, commemorates the resurrection of Jesus from the dead, described in the New Testament as having occurred on the third day after his burial following his crucifixion by the Romans at Calvary (c. 30 A.D.) and is observed as the culmination of the Passion of Jesus, preceded by Lent, traditionally observed as a 40-day period of fasting, prayer, and penance; and

WHEREAS, From its earliest origins in the First Century A.D., it has followed generally to a specific period tied to the occurrence of Passover in the traditional Hebrew calendar inasmuch as it memorializes a series of events that arose in Jerusalem at the time of the celebration of Passover; and

WHEREAS, The observance is more particularly tied to events that occurred in a specific time in history, when Tiberius reigned in Rome as the second Roman Emperor (14 to 37 A.D.), when Pontius Pilate was the Governor of Judea (26 to 37 A.D.), Herod Antipas was the Tetrarch of Galilee (4 B.C. to 39 A.D.), and Caiaphas was the Chief Priest in Jerusalem (18 to 37 A.D.); and

WHEREAS, Christian churches attribute their existence to the events surrounding the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ; and

WHEREAS, The New Testament states that the resurrection of Jesus, which Easter celebrates, is one of the chief tenets of the Christian faith, which established him as the unique Son of God and proof that God will righteously judge the world and that for those who trust in Jesus’ death and resurrection, “death is swallowed up in victory”; and

WHEREAS, As a matter of church doctrine, the 1st century view of the Christian Church, which was memorialized in its earliest writings and affirmed in its earliest councils, has been that without the events of Easter week, the church has no reason to exist. This view was stated by the Apostle Paul in writing his first letter to the church in Corinth during the decade of A.D. 50, “If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith. More than that, we are then found to be false witnesses about God, for we have testified about God that he raised Christ from the dead. But he did not raise him if in fact the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins”; and

WHEREAS, The significance of Easter makes it a prominent element of many ancient creeds that served to consolidate the church’s understanding of vital doctrines, such as the Nicene Creed, also called Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed, which is a Christian statement of faith that is the sole ecumenical creed that is accepted by the Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Anglican, and major Protestant churches and states “For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate, he suffered death and was buried, and rose again on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures”; and

WHEREAS, Other historic creeds echo this view of the resurrection as a core defining doctrine, as does the Apostle’s Creed (‘I believe … in Jesus Christ … our Lord, who was … born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died and was buried; He descended into hell; on the third day He rose again from the dead”) which is the occurrence which Easter celebrates; and

WHEREAS, In Latin and Greek, the Christian celebration was, and still is, called “Pascha,” a word that originally denoted the Jewish Passover observance in remembrance of the Jewish Exodus from slavery in Egypt in Exodus Chapter 12, but which in the theology of the Apostle Paul was extended to Christ as anticipating the death of Jesus and his work preserving people from God’s judgement; and

WHEREAS, As in the New Testament the celebration of Passover is reunderstood as anticipating yet a further work of God in delivering His people, so also the Old Testament accounts of the sacrifice of Isaac from Genesis Chapter 22 and the life of Jonah from the book by that name are seen in the New Testament to shed light upon the meaning of the life of Christ and his death and resurrection which is recalled at Easter; and

WHEREAS, The message of Easter observances beyond the particulars of affirming belief in the life, physical death, and bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ is that God has spoken, and spoken in a concrete historical and geographical setting and, accordingly, is knowable, a truth affirmed by both the writer of the New Testament Book of Hebrews who wrote “In many and various ways God spoke of old to our fathers by the prophets; but in these last days he has spoken to us by a Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world.”; now, therefore, be it

Resolved by the Assembly of the State of California, the Senate thereof concurring, That the Legislature recognizes April 12, 2020 as the date on which many churches recognize Easter, and Sunday October 19th as the date of Easter recognition among the Orthodox faithful; and be it further

Resolved, That the Legislature encourages Californians to celebrate this ancient observance and its message of hope and honor which affirms the intrinsic value of every human life, since it affirms the work of Christ recalled at Easter was a work to enable every person to receive adoption as a Child of God, equal before him, with no defect or shame, and with equal rights, privileges, and value; and be it further

Resolved, That the Chief Clerk of the Assembly transmit copies of this resolution to the authors for appropriate distribution.