The Freedom From Religion Foundation is calling out Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders for promoting Christianity through a state proclamation announcing the closure of government offices on Friday, Dec. 26.

FFRF has sent a letter objecting to Sanders’ proclamation, which does far more than announce an administrative holiday closure. It delivers an explicitly theological account of the Christian story of Jesus’ birth, divinity, crucifixion, resurrection and anticipated return “in glory” while instructing state employees to spend the holiday “giving thanks for Christ’s birth.”

“State offices are not churches, and gubernatorial proclamations are not sermons,” writes FFRF Legal Counsel Chris Line. “The governor is free to practice her religion privately, but she may not use the authority of the state to promote Christian doctrine as official government speech.”

While states may constitutionally recognize Christmas, a federal holiday, in a secular and inclusive manner, FFRF emphasizes that Sanders’ proclamation crosses a clear constitutional line. Rather than focusing on scheduling or the widely observed secular cultural aspects of the holiday season, the proclamation presents core Christian beliefs as government-endorsed truths.

By issuing the proclamation in her official capacity and distributing it to state employees, Sanders used the power and resources of the state to advance a specific religious viewpoint, in violation of the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause. The Constitution requires government neutrality toward religion, neither favoring religion over nonreligion nor preferring one faith over others.

Arkansas is home to Christians, Jews, Muslims, Hindus, atheists and many others. A growing number of Arkansans are religiously unaffiliated or non-Christian. When a governor proclaims Christian theology as part of official state business, it sends a clear message that non-Christians are outsiders in their own state or even second-class citizens.

“Sanders further not only has misused the machinery of the state to promulgate her own personal fundamentalist Christian beliefs, but she has the chutzpah to direct citizen worship — that is ordering them to ‘give thanks to Jesus,’ an act no public official in the United States has the authority to do,” comments FFRF Co-President Annie Laurie Gaylor. “This is an abuse of power. Despite Sanders’ best efforts, Arkansas is not a Christian theocracy.”

In fact, Gaylor adds, Article II of the Arkansas Constitution explicitly states that no one can be “compelled to attend, erect or support any place of worship; … No human authority can, in any case or manner whatsoever, control or interfere with the right of conscience; and no preference shall ever be given, by law, to any religious establishment, denomination or mode of worship above any others.”

FFRF wants to make clear that it does not object to state offices being closed on Dec. 26 for administrative convenience or to allow employees a four-day weekend. What it objects to is the state’s misuse of its official voice to demand religious observance or to declare Christian mythology as fact.

FFRF is urging Sanders to rescind the proclamation and refrain from issuing sectarian proclamations in the future. All official state communications, FFRF stresses, must remain neutral on matters of religion — as both the state and federal constitutions require.

The Freedom From Religion Foundation is a national nonprofit organization with 42,000 members and several chapters nationwide, including hundreds of members and a chapter in Arkansas. FFRF’s purposes are to defend the constitutional principle of separation between church and state, and to educate the public on matters relating to nontheism.

The post FFRF rebukes Gov. Sanders for Christian proclamation on holiday closure  appeared first on Freedom From Religion Foundation.