USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins sent staff Easter email about Jesus, God

US Department of Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins sent an Easter email to USDA staff highlighting the story of Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection; This message, he said, alienates some Christians because of their overt religiosity.

“Happy Easter – He is truly risen,” Rollins wrote in an email he sent on Good Friday, which CNBC reviewed and first reported.

“From the foot of the Cross on Good Friday to the stone rolled from the now empty tomb, sin was destroyed,” Rollins wrote.

“Jesus rose from the dead. And God has given victory and new life to each of us. And where there is life – resurrected life – there is hope.”

The email included a picture of a round stone rolling from the entrance to Jesus’ tomb, with the words “Christ is Risen” written on it.

One USDA employee who spoke to CNBC said that as a devout Christian and a department employee who works with “people of other faiths, Muslims and Hindus,” the email was disturbing to them.

The staffer, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to concerns of retaliation, said other USDA employees were also disturbed by Rollins’ message.

“From his Christian nationalist perspective, people don’t support his style of brand,” the staffer said. “It misses the mark in many ways.”

“I actually consider this blasphemy because it contradicts the message of Jesus,” they said.

Asked to comment on Rollins’ email and its reaction to it, a USDA spokesperson said in an email to CNBC: “The Secretary has the right to send a message to employees and the public over the Easter holiday. Just as Secretaries of Agriculture and Presidents have done in the past.”

The email was the subject of a topic Topic on social media site Redditone commenter here wrote: “I’m a fed and a Christian and I’m completely offended by this nonsense! I want to vomit at how they use Jesus as an excuse to act so badly.”

Another commenter wrote: “Christ is indeed Risen. But I say this as a Lutheran.”

“As a civil servant, defending religion is shameful,” that commentator wrote. “My faith guides my life, it has no bearing on the service I provide as a government employee, and if I actively advocate Christianity I would be doing a disservice to Warfighters who believe differently than I do.

Rollins in an interview with the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association Decision magazine was published in June 2025she said, “God’s hand has been the driving force in everything I’ve done. For as long as I can remember, God has been a huge part of everything, even when I didn’t really want to.”

The interview was titled: “Q&A with Brooke Rollins: The Fight for the Soul of America: USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins creates policy on Bible teaching.”

“As an agriculture major at Texas A&M and then getting a law degree at the University of Texas, I really thought I was going to go to seminary and be a youth minister, my heart was there,” Rollins said in the interview. he said.

In the same interview, Rollins talked about his involvement in Bible study with other Cabinet members.

When asked if there was a passage from the Bible that he thought about often, Rollins replied: “The one that really speaks to me right now is Romans 13:12, wearing armor of light.”

“And I feel that very viscerally. There’s a lot of darkness, not in the White House or my current boss, President Trump, or in our cabinet, but in the government in general and on the other side fighting for the soul of America,” he said.

On Monday, President Donald Trump told reporters that he believes God is backing the United States against Iran, a predominantly Shiite Muslim country.

“I do so because God is good,” Trump said in response to a reporter’s question at the White House. “And God wants to see people taken care of.”

At the same briefing, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth compared the rescue of a US airman shot down in Iran to the story of Jesus’ resurrection.

“As you can see, he was shot on Friday, Good Friday; he hid all Saturday in a cave, in a crevice, and was rescued on Sunday,” Hegseth said. “Flew from Iran at sunrise on Easter Sunday, a pilot reborn.”

On Easter Sunday, Trump warned Iran in a post on Truth Social to open the Strait of Hormuz or “You will live in hell – JUST WATCH! Praise be to God.”

Allah is the Arabic name for God in Islam.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said at the opening of her briefing with reporters on March 30: “Can you hear our ‘Amen’? We prayed a little out loud as a team.”