Brooke Rollins, US Secretary of Agriculture, speaks to members of the media outside the White House in Washington, DC, US, on Friday, March 27, 2026.
Aaron Schwartz | SIPA Bloomberg | getty images
US Department of Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins sent an Easter email to USDA employees that emphasized the story of Jesus’s crucifixion and resurrection, a message that some Christians said alienated them because of its overt religiosity.
“Happy Easter – he is indeed resurrected,” Rollins wrote in an email sent on Good Friday, which was reviewed and first reported by CNBC.
Rollins wrote, “From the foot of the cross on Good Friday to the stone rolled from the now empty tomb, sin has perished.”
“Jesus has risen 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 depiction of a round stone rolled from the entrance of Jesus’ tomb, with the words “Christ is Risen” written above the image.
A USDA employee who spoke to CNBC said the email was offensive to him as a devout Christian and as a department employee who works “with people of other religions, Muslims, Hindus.”
The employee, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were concerned about retaliation, said other USDA employees were also hurt by Rollins’ message.
“From a Christian nationalist perspective, people are not in favor of a brand like that,” the employee said. “It misses the mark from many angles.”
“I actually find it blasphemous, because it’s contrary to the message of Jesus,” he said.
Asked for comment about Rollins’ email and the response to it, a USDA spokesperson said in an email to CNBC, “It is within the Secretary’s authority to send messages to employees and the public over the Easter holiday. Just as Agriculture Secretaries and Presidents have done in the past.”
The subject of the email was Thread on social media site RedditWhere one commenter wrote, “I’m fed up and Christian and completely offended by this crap!!! It makes me angry how they use Jesus Christ as an excuse to behave so badly.”
Another commentator wrote: “Christ is indeed risen. But, as a Lutheran I say so.”
That commentator wrote, “Advocating religion as a civil servant is disgraceful.” “My faith guides my life, it is immaterial to the service I provide as a government servant and if I actively advocate for Christianity I would be doing a disservice to warfighters who believe differently from me.
Rollins, in an interview with the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association Decision magazine published June 2025Said, “God’s hand has been the driving force in everything I’ve ever done. For as long as I can remember, God has been such a big part of everything, even in times when I didn’t really want to do it.”
The interview was titled: “Q&A with Brooke Rollins: The Battle for America’s Soul: USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins sets policy on Bible teaching.”
“All through the years – as an agriculture major at Texas A&M and then while pursuing a law degree at the University of Texas, I really thought I would go to seminary and become a youth minister, that’s where my heart was,” Rollins said in the interview.
In the same interview, Rollins talked about his participation in Bible studies with other Cabinet members.
When asked if there is a passage in the Bible that she thinks about often, Rollins replied, “Right now, the one that really speaks to me is Romans 13:12, Putting on the armor of light.”
She said, “And I feel it very honestly. There is a lot of darkness — not with this White House or my current boss, President Trump or our Cabinet, but with government in general, and the other side fighting for the soul of America.”
On Monday, President Donald Trump told reporters that he believes God favors the US against Iran, which is predominantly Shia Muslim.
“I do it 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 downed US airman in Iran to the story of Jesus’ resurrection.
Hegseth said, “You see, was shot down on Friday, Good Friday; hid in a cave, in a crevice, all Saturday and was rescued on Sunday.” “Flying out of Iran as the sun rose on Easter Sunday, a pilot is reborn.”
On Easter Sunday, Trump, in a Truth Social post, warned Iran to open the Strait of Hormuz, otherwise “you’ll be living in hell – just watch! Praise Allah.”
Allah is the Arabic name of God in Islam.
“Can you hear our ‘Amen’ there? We prayed a little louder as a team,” White House press secretary Carolyn Leavitt told reporters at the start of a March 30 briefing.