The White House concluded its week of Easter celebrations with a breakfast reception by Vice President Joe Biden and President Barack Obama at the White House Friday morning, where the leaders discussed the importance of Christ's sacrifice to the world.

"In these sacred days, those of us as Christians remember the tremendous sacrifice Jesus made for each of us – how, in all His humility and His grace, He took on the sins of the world and extended the gift of salvation. And we recommit ourselves to following His example – to loving the Lord our God with all our hearts and all our souls and with all our minds, and to loving our neighbors as ourselves," Obama said to a crowd of 135 attendees, including many pastors and priests, adding in jest that he does not like preaching in front of people who do it for a living.

"That's the eternal spirit of Easter. And this year, I had – I think was particularly special for me because right before Easter I had a chance to feel that spirit during my trip to the Holy Land," the U.S. president added, referring to his recent trip to Israel. more >>

Call it an epic fail or a brickfest, but President Barack Obama could perhaps have built himself a little house with the number of bricks he threw down on the White House basketball court during the Easter Egg Roll festivities on Monday.

For all his bluster about his basketball skills on the court and the endless reporting on his regular pick-up games off camera, President Obama, 51, seemed to have suffered a terrible case of performance anxiety as the media and an audience of young children and members of the Washington Wizards, including star guard John Wall, watched him release brick after brick.

"I gotta hit one shot before I go," the President could be heard saying in this video after his fourth failed shot as his audience ooohhhed, ahhhed and awwwed at his struggles. more >>

The St. Therese of Lisieux Catholic Church of Shelby Township, Mich., lost nearly $40,000 in donations over Easter weekend after thieves broke into the place of worship, using methods and equipment which local law enforcement is describing as "sophisticated" and "professional."

"We're looking at probably a professional crew," Shelby Township Police Chief Roland Woelkers told the Detroit Free Press regarding the burglary that occurred sometime between 10 p.m. Sunday and Monday morning, when a maintenance worker discovered the church had been broken into.

A team of thieves reportedly used special equipment to break through a glass door at the St. Therese of Lisieux church, and then used more specialized equipment to break into the safe room of the church, where they stole roughly $40,000 in donations collected during six masses over Easter weekend. more >>

An atheist group local to the Dallas-Fort Worth area of Texas sent a controversial message to 50 North Texas pastors on Good Friday, March 29, in what it claims to be a method of "outreach to Christians."

The message, which was emailed by the local atheist group Dallas–Fort Worth Coalition of Reason, conveyed the controversial message: "God is Dead, Have a Good Friday."

Zachary Moore, coordinator of the lesser-known local atheist group, told CBS-affiliate Dallas-Fort Worth, which first broke the story, that the purpose of the controversial email was to reach Christians who question the teachings of the church. more >>

This past Sunday, Christians around the world celebrated Easter as a memorial of Christ's resurrection. If Christians are correct about what happened on the first Easter morning, then the resurrection is the single most important event in human history. Jesus is the Son of God who came to earth to sacrifice himself for our sins, and those who accept him by grace through faith will have life for eternity in the presence of God.

Eternity is hard to fathom, hard to wrap our minds around. It's hard to conceptualize temporally or spatially. We are told that the universe is infinite in size, but can't really imagine it. Similarly, it is nearly impossible to truly comprehend life everlasting. You can't stop putting zeroes behind the number of years we'll rejoice in God's presence. It's incredible.

This promise of eternal joy should impact life in the present, or as the reformers said, it should cause us to live life coram deo, "in the presence of God, under the authority of God, to the glory of God." In other words, believing in the resurrection should directly impact how we live our lives, how we relate to our neighbors, how we transact or business and personal affairs. As followers of Christ we are mere pilgrims passing through this present life, seeking not the things of this world but committed to storing up treasures in heaven. more >>

At an Easter Sunday service attended by President Barack Obama and his family, the pastor in his sermon accused politically conservative Christians of being misogynist, racist and anti-immigrant.

"It drives me crazy when the captains of the religious right are always calling us back ... for blacks to be back in the back of the bus ... for women to be back in the kitchen ... for immigrants to be back on their side of the border," the Rev. Luis León preached at St. John's Episcopal Church, according to a pooled press report.

The church is just blocks away from the White House and is sometimes referred to as the "church of the presidents." Obama was sitting in the pews with his wife, Michelle, and his daughters, Sasha and Malia. They do not attend services at St. John's on a regular basis, but they have attended the church on many occasions. more >>