Over the years, however, the religious associations have faded, and today these practices and customs have no religious significance.
Exactly!!!! If I don't celebrate Easter, not with the intent of honouring Eostre, the Great Mother Goddess of the Saxon people in Northern Europe, but rather with the intent of having a fun springtime celebration, an excuse to decorate with pastels, eat chocolate, and buy gifts for my son...then that's what it is!! I don't give a rat's patootie what other people associate with Easter celebrations...it doesn't mean that to me, and that's what matters.
They write things with such a glimmer of intelligence, and then follow it up with absolute drivel. And the dubs all buy it, ad infinitum.