(LifeSiteNews) — Secularists and atheists alike were predictably furious with Sarah Huckabee Sanders this past Christmas. It’s just not that they found her professed love for Jesus Christ problematic. It’s that she used her position as governor of Arkansas to spread the truth that Jesus Christ is the Savior of Mankind.

On December 16, Sanders issued a declaration recalling that “more than two millennia ago in the little town of Bethlehem, far from the centers of power in first-century Rome, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, was born in a humble manger.” Sanders added that “on that first Christmas, Christ’s arrival was unassuming” and “not focused on the wealthy or powerful but rather on the poor, powerless, and meek.”

Sanders then approved an extra day off for state employees on December 26 “in order that [they] may spend this holiday with their families giving thanks for Christ’s birth.”

On December 17, one day later, the anti-Christian Freedom From Religion Foundation – which seemingly had nothing better to do one week before Christmas – published a letter objecting to Sanders’ statement. The group accused her of presenting “core Christian beliefs as government-endorsed truths.”

“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,” their statement claimed.

Sanders replied with a letter of her own on December 19. In an X post, Sanders said, “Christmas isn’t a just a holiday, it’s the celebration of Jesus Christ’s birth. Meaning matters, we won’t pretend otherwise.” She then explained the rationale for her decision in a follow up letter.

“You say that my communications as Governor must be neutral on matters of religion,” she noted. “I say that, even if I wanted to do that, it would be impossible. Christmas is not simply an ‘end-of-the-year holiday’ with ‘broadly observed secular cultural aspects,’ as your letter states. It’s not gifts, trees, and stockings that make this holiday special. Christmas is the celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ, and if we are to honor Him properly, we should tell His miraculous, world-changing story properly, too.”

The @FFRF took issue with me closing state offices to celebrate Christmas and sent a letter demanding I rescind my proclamation.

Christmas isn’t a just a holiday, it’s the celebration of Jesus Christ’s birth. Meaning matters, we won’t pretend otherwise.

See my response here ⤵️ pic.twitter.com/UciehY3GtS

— Sarah Huckabee Sanders (@SarahHuckabee) December 22, 2025

Naturally, the Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF) refused to let the matter go. They quickly issued yet another snarky statement accusing Sanders, who had just participated in a menorah lightening ceremony, of using her office “as a platform for preaching rather than as a position of trust.”

To her credit, Sanders did not back down. “I will not apologize for or retract my  Christmas proclamation giving state workers an extra day off,” she said in yet another X post on December 22.

We closed state offices so families could spend time together at Christmas.

Some people objected, and told us we had to strip the holiday of its meaning – the birth of Christ.

We declined. https://t.co/piBldvYUt5

— Sarah Huckabee Sanders (@SarahHuckabee) December 22, 2025

Sanders’ willingness to push back against the FRFF is laudable, not only because so many lawmakers have genuflected to the altar of political correctness and anti-Christian groups in recent decades, but because she knows that the people who work at the FRFF are loved by Jesus Christ, too. More than anything, her reply was an attempt to remind them of that love that Christ has for them. “Though you may enter this season with bitterness, know that Christ is with you, that He loves you, and that He died for your sins just the same as He did for mine and everyone else’s,” Sander said to them in her letter. What an amazing reminder of the truths found in the Gospel.

Whether the FRFF will follow up with a lawsuit or some sort of campaign to pressure other lawmakers across the U.S. to stop honoring Christmas remains to be seen. Whatever they end up doing they have been given a great reminder by Governor Sanders that those who recognize Jesus Christ as the Savior of Mankind will not be intimidated by them. They have also been shown that Christians, like Our Lord Himself, want those who reject Christ to know that He loves them and wants them to be with Him in heaven for all eternity. May we pray that those who work at the Freedom From Religion Foundation will soften their hearts, give up their fight against Jesus Christ, and come to embrace the true faith in the coming year.