A Tasty Agnostic Easter by Charles LaFond

— Created April 12, 2026 by Samantha Goodman

A Tasty Agnostic Easter

By Charles LaFond
Island Fundraiser, Potter, Author, and Essayist

Kai with Charles Back in the Day

For many of us, this is a special week and Sunday, a special day, being Easter and all. For most of us, however, this is a special week because the land is bursting forth with the colors and optimism of springtime and a willingness to feed us.

One need not look too hard at history to see religious groups carving out territory, establishing dogmas, inventing rituals, and murdering people whose opinions about death and eternal life differ from theirs. All the smoky burnings at the stake, torture on the rack, and fingernail removal somewhat clouds the glory of it all for me, pun intended.

I never really took to the long liturgies and sermons so vehemently sure about mysteries. Nor did I find the chocolate bunnies and jelly beans terribly attractive, being a diabetic. However, I would crawl over broken glass for a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup, which inspires a flicker of consideration of a benevolent Creator. And yet that same flicker of consideration for a benevolent Creator somewhat dims when considering things like childhood leukemia, tapeworms, lionfish, and war.

As an Anglican myself, for 63 years, I have thought a lot about religion and have come to the conclusion that– were it not for death and our fear of it, religions would lose their attractiveness (and clergy their incomes). Our human egos and gene-survival skills are so strong, and relatedly, our aversion to death so profound, that humans have, for millennia, created more than 2,600 gods, complete with temples, churches, foods, stories and clergy, to construct a series of cohorts – gangs, if you will – that gather, assure each other, circle the wagons against other god-followers and even develop rather tasty foods including Mennonite sugar pies, Greek Orthodox Rose Jellies, Lutheran gruel, Jewish noodle kugel, various flat breads, wine – well the delicious list is endless really.

Humans have survived by forming tribes and using their power to keep some safe if they follow the rules, and stone or expel others if they do not. And village expelling meant certain death, so the stakes were high, if not always burning.

I left the church because I saw the sausage being made and wanted neither to eat it nor sell it anymore, so I came to Whidbey rather than to Iona. Sure, it’s a bit hippy here on Geezer Island, but it suits me as I dismantle the scaffolding built for me by my tribe (family, culture, parents, church).

It is now time, in my third act, to begin the very important work of building my own scaffolding – my own house. At first, it felt like I was forging ahead into a road less traveled. But after seven years here, making pots and raising money, the road is really quite full of the most wonderful people. Yes, I will still eat roasted lamb and pea risotto with mint on Sunday, but now, it will be because I want to – followed by some wine and a Reese’s Cup or six.