Gov. Sarah Sanders will not remove a chalk drawing of a cross at the Governor’s Mansion in Little Rock, she said Friday in a letter to a group that objected to the display of a religious symbol on public grounds.
“I will not erase the beautiful cross my kids drew in chalk on the driveway of the Governor’s Mansion or remove my post on social media, and I will not now or ever hide that I am a Christian, saved by Christ,” the governor said.
Sanders’ self-righteous letter is in response to the group Americans United for the Separation of Church and State, a non-profit based in Washington, D.C., that stands for exactly what it sounds like. The group requested the cross be erased earlier this week, saying it sends the “impermissible message that those who do not share the favored faith are unwelcome and will be treated differently” and crossed a “constitutional line.”
The controversy seems to have given Sanders a perfect opportunity to please her like-minded followers. Her brief letter is packed with buzzwords. She’s “offended” by the group’s implication that she’s “somehow a bigot” because of her religion. And actually, people of all faiths are welcome in Arkansas, and all Arkansans are welcome in the Governor’s Mansion, she said.
“In Arkansas, we stand up to bullying liberals,” Sanders writes. “We won’t let you power-wash our kids’ chalk drawings off our front steps. We won’t let you tear down Christmas decorations and stomp our traditions into the dirt. We don’t live our lives in fear of strongly worded letters coming down from Washington.”
The chalk cross quickly sparked online discourse. Sanders initially posted a picture of her three kids posing with the creation on Instagram.
Some showed their support: “That’s a rainbow of color I can fully support. Your kids did a fantastic job!” said one Instagrammer. “It’s beautiful — and God sees it too!” exclaimed another.
Others voiced concerns: “The separation of church and state are vital to our democracy!” and “indoctrination of kids & white Christian nationalist decoration in government owned buildings? Ew…”
There’s a lot of quoteworthy bits in Sanders’ letter. Here it is in full:
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