​Sarah Huckabee Sanders plays the victim over objection to her kids’ chalk cross

Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders has seized upon a culture war opportunity to “stand up to liberal bullies” in defense of what she claims is her right to display a Christian religious symbol at the entrance to the Governor’s Mansion, the Arkansas Times reported today.

Huckabee’s children drew the chalk cross, prompting a request from Americans United for Separation of Church and State that it be removed as a violation of the U.S. Constitution. That prompted what the Times described as a “self-righteous” letter doubling down on the cross staying where it is.

“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.

“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.”

Americans United hadn’t referred to any of that in the letter it sent to Huckabee earlier in the week.

“The religious display at the entrance to the Arkansas Governor’s Mansion violates the Establishment Clause because it sends a message that the Governor’s office—and by extension, the state of Arkansas—favors one religion over others,” the letter stated, according to the Times.

“Such favoritism is unconstitutional. You and your family are free to display and create religious images and art in private areas of your residence, but a public-facing display in front of an entrance intended to welcome people into the Governor’s mansion’ is plainly on the wrong side of the constitutional line.”

In a Tweet that followed the letter, Americans United stated that “when fighting to defend church-state separation, we must always reject Christian nationalism.”