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President Obama Marks Easter and Passover

By Howard M. Friedman

President Obama's Weekly Address today (full text and video recording) focused on Passover and Easter. He said in part:

This is a week of faithful celebration. On Monday and Tuesday nights, Jewish families and friends in the United States and around the world gathered for a Seder to commemorate the Exodus from Egypt and the triumph of hope and perseverance over injustice and oppression. On Sunday, my family will join other Christians all over the world in marking the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

And while we worship in different ways, we also remember the shared spirit of humanity that inhabits us all ? Jews and Christians, Muslims and Hindus, believers and nonbelievers alike.

Amid the storm of public debate, with our 24/7 media cycle, in a town like Washington that?s consumed with the day-to-day, it can sometimes be easy to lose sight of the eternal. So, on this Easter weekend, let us hold fast to those aspirations we hold in common as brothers and sisters, as members of the same family ? the family of man.

On Thursday night, Obama hosted a Seder dinner in the Old Family Dining Room of the White House for some friends, White House employees, and their families. In an article last month, the New York Times traced the background of this event which began with an improvised Seder in April 2008 during the Presidential campaign.

The Obama family will join a D.C. congregation for Easter services tomorrow, according to the Washington Post. However the White House has not disclosed the identity of the church in an attempt to not attract onlookers who would disturb the services.

Full post as published by Religion Clause on April 03, 2010 (boomark / email).