Some of the People Obamacare Hurts–Hobby Lobby in a Lost America

I am still sad from the November elections because of the damage Obamacare does to human life and to the fabric of our

English: Hobby Lobby store in Stow, Ohio (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

republic. I have listed below a letter from David Green, the founder of Hobby Lobby concerning why he had to file a lawsuit against our government. I hope you will read it and hear the heart of an American whose conscience is torn between running a prosperous business for the good of thousands of people and being forced by the government to violate his conscience so that women can abort their babies for little or no cost.

Just a snippet gives you a feel for the heartbeat of Green’s concern. It is a concern for all people. Obamacare represents an overreaching of the First Amendment. It is a law that restricts the free exercise of religion. As Green says,

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.

Unfortunately, a federal judge struck down Hobby Lobby’s first attempt at a reprieve from the enactment of this law. Hobby Lobby filed an appeal on November 21st. We should pray for them. They may be forced to close their doors because they cannot pay more than a million dollars a day in fines to the government.

If you are interested in following this case, I have linked here the website which posted the letter. On that website, there are links to the legal briefs, statements, and court filings related to the case.

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 it’s business according to it’s 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.

Related articles

• Hobby Lobby Files Appeal (as previous post draws over 50,000 views) (selahvtoday.typepad.com)
• Hobby Lobby Obamacare Lawsuit: Judge Rules Christian Store Must Violate Faith, Cover Abortion Pill (patdollard.com)