A Letter from Hobby Lobby Stores CEO – for Freedom of Religion

Via the Independent Sentinel:

The following letter from the Hobby Lobby Stores CEO outlines the case for not having to purchase employee insurance that covers abortifacients. They recently lost their case in one court because the judge did not view them as a religious organization. They are continuing their lawsuit with representation by the Beckett Fund.

There are about 20 such cases protesting the HHS mandate and most will end up in the SCOTUS.

Cases that involve religious organizations are being held up because they had a one year exemption. When the year is up, they can move forward.

This truly is about our first amendment and freedom of religion, not abortifacients and birth control.

 

A Letter from Hobby Lobby Stores CEO
By David Green, the founder and CEO of Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc.

When my family and I started our company 40 years ago, we were working out of a garage on a $600 bank loan, assembling miniature picture frames. Our first retail store wasn’t much bigger than most people’s living rooms, but we had faith that we would succeed if we lived and worked according to God’s word. From there, Hobby Lobby has become one of the nation’s largest arts and crafts retailers, with more than 500 locations in 41 states. Our children grew up into fine business leaders, and today we run Hobby Lobby together, as a family.

We’re Christians, and we run our business on Christian principles. I’ve always said that the first two goals of our business are (1) to run our business in harmony with God’s laws, and (2) to focus on people more than money. And that’s what we’ve tried to do. We close early so our employees can see their families at night. We keep our stores closed on Sundays, one of the week’s biggest shopping days, so that our workers and their families can enjoy a day of rest. We believe that it is by God’s grace that Hobby Lobby has endured, and he has blessed us and our employees. We’ve not only added jobs in a weak economy, we’ve raised wages for the past four years in a row. Our full-time employees start at 80% above minimum wage.

But now, our government threatens to change all of that. A new government health care mandate says that our family business MUST provide what I believe are abortion-causing drugs as part of our health insurance. Being Christians, we don’t pay for drugs that might cause abortions, which means that we don’t cover emergency contraception, the morning-after pill or the week-after pill. We believe doing so might end a life after the moment of conception, something that is contrary to our most important beliefs. It goes against the Biblical principles on which we have run this company since day one. If we refuse to comply, we could face $1.3 million PER DAY in government fines.

Our government threatens to fine job creators in a bad economy. Our government threatens to fine a company that’s raised wages four years running. Our government threatens to fine a family for running its business according to its beliefs. It’s not right. I know people will say we ought to follow the rules; that it’s the same for everybody. But that’s not true. The government has exempted thousands of companies from this mandate, for reasons of convenience or cost. But it won’t exempt them for reasons of religious belief.

So, Hobby Lobby and my family are forced to make a choice. With great reluctance, we filed a lawsuit today, represented by the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, asking a federal court to stop this mandate before it hurts our business. We don’t like to go running into court, but we no longer have a choice. We believe people are more important than the bottom line and that honoring God is more important than turning a profit.

My family has lived the American dream. We want to continue growing our company and providing great jobs for thousands of employees, but the government is going to make that much more difficult. The government is forcing us to choose between following our faith and following the law. I say that’s a choice no American and no American business should have to make.
The government cannot force you to follow laws that go against your fundamental religious belief. They have exempted thousands of companies but will not except Christian organizations including the Catholic church.

Since you will not see this covered in any of the liberal media, pass this on to all your contacts.

Sincerely,
David Green, CEO and Founder of Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc.

 

Comments

[Z]

I'm going to link to this...perhaps in my Sunday Faith Blog..
THis is so important and you can imagine it's not a sole (or one-off) story (it's a SOUL story, come to think of it!!) :-)
I could cry for these good people being bullied into paying for things repellent to them and their family and faith......as I cry for us as we have to see things like this.
I hope Hobby Lobby has enough money to take this to the SCOTUS. We need to pray for them.
thanks for this, Deb.
I hope you had a marvelous Thanksgiving.xxx z

[Debbie]

Breaks your heart doesn't it Z? This is what our country has come to?

Link away, give the Independent Sentinel
credit.

Debbie

[Skunkfeathers]

This is what libs have had wet dreams about: telling others to live the way libs want them to; yet libs are exempting their friends and allies, in droves. Welcome to command and control, lib-style. May Hobby Lobby succeed at the SCOTUS, before the marxist unpotus (he ain't my president) can gerrymander the SCOTUS to be his mouthpiece.

[RWT]

Maybe they should shut up shop and put a sign out the front saying it's thanks to obamacare. Sometimes the truth hurts and people ought to be hurt until they come to their senses.

It's a sad reality but most people will only wake up when the food from their table is taken due to their stupidity.

[Snake Hunter Sez,]

Multiple News Sources...
quoted today that 63 percent of college graduates believe that
The American Dream Is Dead;

I suspect that ObamaNation may have killed it! - reb
___ ___

[PALADIN]

This is truly sickening, and frightening.
All this from one man, who i pray everyday is stopped by the only power who can stop him.

Jesus our Lord.

I will be talking to my priest about this, and me thinks consecration in the form of prayer is what needs to be done.
But i am a mere man who is a sinner as well, and it will take the power of ALL Christians through prayer to see such a thing done.

If John Paul were here today on this earth i know he would consecrate this President and things would change, just as he prayed for consecration of the former Soviet Union and they were brought to their knees by the power of God.

This man needs the judgement that can only come from God All Mighty and we need the same judgement as a Nation.

[Silverfiddle]

This is how the progressive agenda works. It starts by redefining things.

Freedom of Religion morphs into freedom of worship, constraining it to only what goes on within the walls of a church, personal morality and religious beliefs be damned.

[Snake Hunter Sez,]

First we should determine if Barry H. Obama is indeed a "Black Liberation Chicago Christian" as he has claimed... or, as some serious researchers believe... that he is actually a 'Closet Muslim'.

Secondly, let's get something straight: Islam is a 1400 yr old kill-culture, a "death cult" and not a religion, by any modern standards; and their Holy Qur'an is a Manual of War... filled with satanic verses, and heavy with violent suggestions.
>>
"Fight and slay the Pagans whereever ye find them, in every strategm of war".
Qur'an 9:5
>>
Allah's Apostle said: "I have been made victorious with terror." - Bukhari, Vol 4, Book 52, #220
___ ___

[NeutralParty]

Giving the employees the option of family planning isn't the same as forcing them to use it.... I wonder if it really boils down to the fact that it's hard to keep yarn prices down when you have to upgrade employee healthcare plans.

[Wordsmith Leslie]

How is it that requiring employees to follow your own religious beliefs is defined as religious liberty? When did that become a thing? What if an employer believed that organ transplants were not God's will (and I know some faithful who believe this) - would we want then to exempt the employer from offering that health coverage as well? Employers should leave decisions of appropriate health care in the hands of the employee and physician and the employee's faith.

[New Attitude]

Wordsmith Leslie you’re an idiot just like every deaf liberal I know. Let's turn your ignorant question around shall we.

"How is it that requiring private business owners to capitulate their own religious beliefs is defined as religious liberty?"

Deep down you really can't stand 'religious people' can you? I think all liberals are driven to orgasmic levels of pleasure when they can FORCE someone they don't agree with to do something against their beliefs. You all make me sick. My hatred for liberals and the misery I wish on them grows daily.

Now that I have vented a little let me rationally point out the obvious flaw in you argument. WHO....WHO is suggesting, espousing, or demanding that these employees be denied the 'medicines' they desire???? NO ONE!!! This company simply DOES NOT WANT TO PAY FOR IT. That is well within their right as a business to choose what medical expenses they will or will not cover. The employees can go buy any thing they desire and live by any life style they choose or even choose not to work there due to lacking insurance.

It's an foreign concept for liberals, it's called Freedom.

[Zen]

New Attitude, you make a lot of assumptions about Leslie. Instead of attacking her opinion, just state your own with references. Otherwise you're just a mad dog barking in the night and no one is going to take you seriously, let alone take your side.

[Susan Sanderson]

Thank you to the Green family for stepping up to this fight. Closing down the business and putting your employees on unemployment wouldn't cause Liberals even one minute of regret. Please stand strong and fight for all of us! This is an opportunity given to you by God, use it well!
Check out my blog, started recently in response to frustration over the election...hisbigpictureview.com...its purpose is to encourage Christ-followers to see God's Big Picture and be a part of it!

[Gladly]

Neutral Party and Wordsmith Leslie forget that no one if forcing anyone to work at Hobby Lobby. It is an employee's responsibility to find out what coverage they may receive and to decide whether or not to take this job based on what is offered - nothing is owed them except an honest day's wage for an honest day's work.

[Annette Nemeth]

Anytime God is not counseled when a decisions is made man assumes the position of responsibility. Man cannot see the future. God spoke of things man would do in the beginning and here we are right on point. Man has always failed the human race. God does not forsake His people stand firm under Gods council your in good company!