(By the Louisiana Freedom Caucus) — The First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States declares that the Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and the right to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

The Louisiana Constitution makes similar and parallel declarations, emphasizing both the importance of faith in our society and also erecting a wall of separation which ensures the government will stay out of the affairs of the faith of our citizens. There is a wall of separation between the church and the state, and that wall is intended to keep the government from meddling in, interfering in, or threatening the rights of our citizens to practice our respective faiths.

The family of faiths in this country is myriad. Though founded primarily by Christian pilgrims and explorers of the Christian faith, the founders of our country saw the danger of governmental interference in the lives of people of faith.

After almost 250 years as a republic and as the lighthouse for freedom around world, the United States has grown into a mosaic of faiths where all are protected and all should be respected and treated equally under the law. Certainly, people of the Christian tradition are a majority in this country, but our very ethos mandates we accept people of other faiths to live and practice in peace and without governmental interference. Jews, Muslims, Hindus, Sikhs, Bahai’s, Zoroastrians and so many others have the same rights as Christians in this country. And so do people who have no faith traditions. Agnostics, Atheists, Deists and others have the right to practice, or not to practice, but most importantly, to be left alone to do as their conscience and tradition dictates.

In the spirit of government staying out of the affairs of the church—any church—we find it abhorrent that the Biden Administration would select the holiest day of the Christian year—Easter—to proclaim a day of commemoration for something else. As believers, we find it as an affront to our sacred tradition of worshiping our resurrected Lord that the Biden Administration would co-mingle Easter with another event entirely.     

Even taking into account the holiness of the entire weekend and, in more traditional circles, the holiness of the octave that follows Easter day-proper, the Saturday before Easter or the Monday after Easter still would have been more suitable choices. For whatever reason, the Biden Administration’s decision to co-mingle the crux of the Christian faith with a commemoration of the visibility of trans citizens can be seen only as an insipid insult to the millions of Americans who celebrate Easter, not to mention the very faith Biden claims to espouse.

We call on the Biden Administration to never insult other communities of faith in the United States as he has done here. The sacred days and times of other religions that find their home in the United States should be cordoned off from such tasteless stunts, and the Biden Administration should issue an immediate apology to the over 200 million practicing Christians in the United States of America.