Brisbane's Anglican Archbishop Phillip Aspinall has joined a local Catholic priest in calling for Queensland's controversial "gay panic" murder defence to be scrapped.

Speaking after his Easter Sunday mass, Archbishop Aspinall said he supported Father Paul Kelly in his calls for the Homosexual Advance Defence to be removed from Queensland common law.

The defence means a murder charge may be reduced to manslaughter if the defendant establishes their victim "came on" to them and the killing was in self-defence.

"I think Father Paul Kelly is on the right track — well and truly," Dr Aspinall said.

"I don't think it's reasonable to murder someone who approaches you sexually — violence is never a constructive response."

Dr Aspinall also appealed to those who resorted to violence at recent anti-Islam rallies, as well as the individuals behind an apparent spate of church vandalism in Melbourne.

"Whenever people feel threatened, there is a natural human tendency to react out of fear — that's exactly what we have to resist," he said.

'Hope' the focus of traditional Easter services

Churches across Queensland today saw large crowds at their traditional Easter services.

Scores of worshippers congregated at St John's Cathedral in Brisbane to mark Easter Sunday, the most important date on the Christian calendar.

Dr Aspinall urged followers to honour the spirit of resurrection in their everyday lives.

"When mistakes we make bring things off the rails and it looks like were going to land in a mess of guilt and shame, there is life beyond all that," Dr Aspinall said.

"What it really means is that the stuff that is death dealing in life, the stuff that threatens to harm people or overwhelm people or plunge them into despair, that stuff does not have the last word — there is always hope.

"Christ is risen means there is always hope."

Catholic Archbishop Mark Coleridge led services today at the Cathedral of St Stephen in Brisbane's CBD.

Archbishop Coleridge said on Easter Sunday church numbers swelled beyond their usual size.

He said Easter was about spreading a message of hope.

"It's important for everyone in the community because hope is not just for those who are religious, but it's for the human being. Easter is not just narrowly religious but a time of human celebration," he said.

"They're a human being in search of hope.

"They've come to the right place because they're looking for the right thing in the right place — here this morning they're looking for the right thing in the right place and the right thing is hope."

He said Jesus's resurrection was "a fact and not a fantasy".

"It was also an experience of the new dimension of life offered to every human being — it didn't matter who," he said.

"All around us we see injustice, evil, indifference, cruelty — but it's also true that in the midst of darkness, something new always springs to life.

"However dark things are, goodness always re-emerges and spreads."

Hillsong Pastor Steve Dixon said the message of Easter was a simple one.

"Jesus is alive, the church is alive — the fact that Jesus is alive proves that he's a different entity than any religious leader," he said.

"He's not just one of many — he is the son of God, God the son."

AAP/ABC