The 3 - December 28, 2025

Arkansas governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders made a nice gesture to state employees for Christmas - she gave them an extra day off!  But, the atheist organization known as the Freedom From Religion Foundation didn't like that, and called on her to make the employees work that day, because her action was unconstitutional, according to FoxNews.com.

The short answer, you could say, was "no."  A more lengthy answer, published in the article, said:

"You say that my communications as Governor must be neutral on matters of religion," Sanders wrote. "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."

Franklin Graham was impressed, posting the Fox story on X, and stating: "I like Governor @SarahHuckabee Sanders—she’s got guts! She gave Arkansas state employees an extra day off to be with their families for Christmas and was challenged by the Freedom From Religion Foundation, which asked her to retract it. She told FFRF she 'would do no such thing!' She’s tough as nails—God bless her!"

In 1971, a monument depicting the 10 Commandments was donated to the state of Kentucky by the Fraternal Order of Eagles. First Liberty noted that, "The monument stood on the state Capitol grounds until the 1980s when it was moved due to a construction project.  Its return was blocked by a court order based on the now defunct Lemon test."

The legal organization's website stated:

Kentucky House Joint Resolution 15 (HJR-15), which passed the state legislature by an overwhelming majority in both houses and became law earlier this year, ordered the return of the monument to the state Capitol grounds.  First Liberty represents Fraternal Order of Eagles Aerie 3423, Hopkinsville, Kentucky, which has kept the monument for over twenty years and has returned it to the state for placement on the Capitol grounds.

The article said that in the Kennedy v. Bremerton case, "...the Court abrogated Lemon entirely and mandated that the Establishment Clause be understood and applied by original meaning, history and tradition."   First Liberty went on to state:

As the Supreme Court has explained, the Ten Commandments “have an undeniable historical meaning,” including “historical significance as one of the foundations of our legal system,” and “[s]uch acknowledgments of the role played by the Ten Commandments in our Nation’s heritage are common throughout America.”

The COVID vaccine became a flashpoint for people who desired to decline receiving the shot based on religious reasons.  Because the government tried to mandate these vaccines - an action that ultimately was reversed in court - there were numerous situations in which people of faith were denied their constitutional, First Amendment freedoms.

Earlier this month, the U.S. Supreme Court found in favor of a group of parents who had challenged New York's mandatory vaccine policy. Worthy News reported that the high court "...reversed a lower court ruling that had upheld New York State’s strict vaccine mandates for schoolchildren, directing the appeals court to reconsider the case under newly strengthened constitutional protections."

The article reported:

The case, Miller v. McDonald, was brought by a group of Amish parents and school leaders who argued that New York’s elimination of religious exemptions in 2019 violated their First Amendment rights. The plaintiffs said the mandate forced them to choose between violating their religious convictions and closing the small one-room schools that have served their community for generations.

The court vacated an earlier decision against the parents by the Second Circuit Court of Appeals and directed the appeals court to "reconsider the case in light of Mahmoud v. Taylor–a landmark ruling issued this past June that broadly expanded constitutional protections for parents whose religious beliefs conflict with public-school policies."