Today in a five to four decision, Hobby Lobby won their fight against a part of Obamacare that mandated that they offer certain types of birth control to their female employees which is strictly against their religious faith.
The Christian Post files the following report of the finding.
Back in the 1980’s, there seemed to be a craft store on every corner. Everyone was into crafts and making things – mostly country – to sell at markets and fairs.
Many have closed for one reason or another. This author was once the owner of Random House Gifts and Crafts in Fayetteville, Georgia. This business is one of the most exciting and friendly businesses one can be involved in. The customers are mostly loving and creative people, and they enjoy using the talents that God has given them.
There is a Hobby Lobby here in our county, and it is such a pleasure to shop there because of the friendly staff and because we know who stands behind this business – a Christian family.
In an article published by this author, there was a request that people pray about this lawsuit. Today the answer to those prayers arrived.
On September 12, 2012, a letter from the CEO of Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc., David Green posted the following letter about this company. This letter was published in the USA Today News, and also highly circulated via e-mails and other forms of communication. This letter lays the foundation of the lawsuit that was decided today.
“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 healthcare 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.
For all sorts of ideas and craft supplies check out the Hobby Lobby website here. They often have great sales and coupons off to help during these hard economic times. There are lots of holidays coming up – Fourth of July, Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas.
Check here for July 4th sales page. Find a 40% off coupon on this page.
And with all the interest these days in Pinterest, you will find Hobby Lobby is the place to shop.