Is Easter of Pagan Origin?

First off, let's understand that Easter is the most important and oldest festival of the Christian Church.  According to Christian Scripture, Jesus was raised from the dead three days after His death on the cross.  We celebrate this "resurrection" as a Holy day, in the Western Church, on the first Sunday after the first full moon following the northern spring equinox.  It is the most well attended Sunday service for Christian churches.  Through His death, burial, and resurrection, Jesus paid the penalty for all our sins, "thus purchasing for all who believe in Him, eternal life in Jesus Christ."

Now, there are those who would venture that Easter has its roots in Paganism.  There are those who try to call it "using a false custom to honor the true God."  They would say this is set forth in Deuteronomy 12:28-32: 

"Observe and hear all these words which I command thee, that it may go well with thee, and with thy children after thee for ever, when thou doest that which is good and right in the sight of the LORD thy God. When the LORD thy God shall cut off the nations from before thee, whither thou goest to possess them, and thou succeedest them, and dwellest in their land; Take heed to thyself that thou be not snared by following them, after that they be destroyed from before thee; and that thou enquire not after their gods, saying, How did these nations serve their gods? even so will I do likewise. Thou shalt not do so unto the LORD thy God: for every abomination to the LORD, which he hateth, have they done unto their gods; for even their sons and their daughters they have burnt in the fire to their gods. What thing soever I command you, observe to do it: thou shalt not add thereto, nor diminish from it."

You have to accept the pagan argument before this verse has any validity.  Personally, I don't see it.  The pagan argument falls apart when you understand that the Christian Church set the standardized date, for Easter to be celebrated, in 325 AD with the First Council of Nicea.  Pagan?  Really?  If so, then the total of Christianity as we know it comes into question since this council set down Canon Law and created the basis for modern Christianity.

Granted, paganism celebrated many spring festivals concerning fertility and the re-birth of nature.  For Christians, however, spring was associated with the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ, a "re-birth" as well.  Pagans were not celebrating Easter, they were celebrating springtime just as Christians were not so much celebrating springtime as they were the resurrection of Jesus.  Both celebrated spring festivals, but let's not read too much into it.  If a paganism were to start gift giving in December would that make their new custom of Christian origin?  I think not.

Another issue I see is how their argument  relates to the last sentence of this verse, "What thing soever I command you, observe to do it: thou shalt not add thereto, nor diminish from it.  The argument used is, "God always commanded that people worship Him exactly as He instructed."  My answer to these folks is that we are not using Easter for worship.  Easter is a time of remembrance and festival to celebrate the resurrection of Christ.  The fact that it was scheduled to fall on a Sunday would in itself prove the desire to continue with Sunday worship, not replace it with a festival.  It makes perfect sense to utilize the one time in the week when everyone is brought together in worship as a venue to remind all of the sacrifice and rebirth of Christ.   When read, the entire verse deals with those acts that are obviously not intended to praise God.  It is not meant to address those acts specifically set forth to more fully show our faith in God and celebrate those events that make our faith strong.

We observe Passover per God's instruction, but Christ had not been crucified yet.  We are not adding or subtracting from the importance of Passover, we are simply remembering an important moment in God's timeline when he gave up His only begotten son for the sake of all mankind. 

Christians will continue to reinterpret the Bible as it suits their purpose, just as Islam reinterprets the Qur'an to suit theirs.  In the end, and for all, God will determine whose faith comes up short.  Once you begin calling into question the actions of Christian councils, councils that put together the Bible, you run the risk of invalidating the very Scripture you so fervently base your arguments on.