First up is Fox: Arkansas Republican Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders is firing back at a legal group challenging her recent move to close state offices on Friday, Dec. 26, to celebrate Christmas and allow employees to spend more time with their families.
After making the announcement to close state offices on Christmas Day, Sanders received a letter from the Freedom from Religion Foundation (FFRF), a group dedicated to the separation of church and state, calling on her to reverse the move, claiming it was unconstitutional.
In a response letter obtained by Fox News Digital, Sanders told FFRF she “would not do such a thing.”
“You said my communications as governor must be neutral on religious matters,” Sanders wrote. “I would say that even if I wanted to, it would be impossible. As your letter states, Christmas is more than just an ‘end-of-year holiday’ with “broadly observed secular cultural aspects.” What makes this holiday special isn’t the gifts, trees, and socks. Christmas is a celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ, and if we are to properly honor him, we should also properly tell his miraculous, world-changing story.”
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Sanders went on to say it was ironic that she received the letter “claiming that I alienated my non-Christian constituents while participating in menorah lighting celebrations with people from all over Arkansas.”
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“I doubt they will say my administration has alienated non-Christians,” Sanders wrote. “In fact, many would say the opposite: Only by expressing our own faith and celebrating others can we make our state’s diverse religious communities feel seen and heard.”
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Sanders concluded her letter by telling FFRF that they were “missing the point,” explaining that it was “not to intimidate readers with Christian teachings,” but “rather to point out the humility of Christ’s birth and the amazing fact that the King of kings was born not in a palace or a temple, but in a humble manger guarded only by poor shepherds.”
“While you may enter this season with pain, know that Christ is with you, that He loves you, and that He died for your sins just as He died for mine and the sins of others,” the letter concluded.
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FFRF’s letter claims Sanders used her “official capacity” to “advance specific religious views in violation of the First Amendment’s separation of church and state clause.”
Fox News Digital reached out to FFRF for comment.
Original source of the article: Governor Sanders rejects legal group’s call to lift Christmas closures: ‘I wouldn’t do anything like that’