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

U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins sent USDA staff an Easter email that emphasized the story of Jesus being crucified and resurrected, a message that some Christians said alienated them for its overt religiosity.

“Happy Easter — He is Risen indeed,” Rollins wrote in the email sent on Good Friday, which CNBC has reviewed and was first to report.

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

“Jesus has been raised from the dead. And God has granted each of us victory and new life. And where there is life — risen life — there is hope.”

The email included an illustration of a round stone rolled away from the entrance to Jesus’ tomb, with the words “Christ is Risen” written above the image.

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

The staffer, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were worried about retaliation, said other USDA employees also were offended by Rollins’ message.

“People are not on board for her sort of brand from a Christian nationalist perspective,” the staffer said. “It misses the mark from a lot of angles.”

“I find it blasphemous, actually, because it’s contrasting Jesus’ message,” they said.

Asked for comment about Rollins’ email and reaction to it, a USDA spokesperson, in an email to CNBC, said, “The Secretary is within her rights to send a message to employees and the public on the Easter holiday. Just like Secretaries of Agriculture and Presidents have in the past.”

The email was the subject of a thread on the social media site Reddit, where one commentator wrote, “I am a fed and a Christian and fully offended by this crap!!! It makes me want to puke how they use Christ as an excuse to behave so badly.”

Another commentator wrote: “Christ is Risen indeed. But, that’s as a Lutheran that I say that.”

“It’s disgraceful to advocate religion as a civil servant,” that commentator wrote. “My faith guides my life, it is immaterial for the service I provide as a government employee and I would be doing a disservice to the Warfigthers who believe differently than me if I were to actively advocate for Christianity.

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

The interview was headlined: “Q&A with Brooke Rollins: Fighting for the Soul of America: USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins builds policy on…