Show support tomorrow on Hobby Lobby Appreciation Day!
I was thisclose to Jo-Ann Fabrics today but am holding out to make my Valentine’s Day craft purchases tomorrow at my local Hobby Lobby.
That’s because tomorrow is Hobby Lobby Appreciation Day, and we pro-lifers need to participate if possible (which can also be done online!).
Hobby Lobby is a chain of 514 craft stores in 41 states, and it is owned by the Green family, who are devout Evangelical Christians.
The Green family believes the Obamacare mandate would force it to provide “what I believe are abortion-causing drugs as part of our health insurance,” according to a letter published in USA Today on September 12, 2012, by CEO and founder, David Green (pictured right with wife Barbara).
Green announced in that letter his company was filing a lawsuit to block the mandate.
On December 26, Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, an Obama appointee, denied the company’s emergency appeal.
Hobby Lobby responded by announcing it would defy the mandate, which took effect January 1. This means it could be fined as much as $1.3 million a day by the IRS ($100 per day per employee).
The owners of Hobby Lobby are now engaging in civil disobedience to stand for their religious beliefs, and we must support them.
“Like” the Standing with Hobby Lobby Facebook page, and then please give it your business tomorrow.
More on the remarkable Green family by the Craft & Hobby Association, October 8, 2012:
Forbes magazine has included David on its Forbes 400 list of the richest Americans since 2004….
The growth is attributable in part to his loyal employees, who have good reason to be loyal. Three years ago, at the depth of the recession when the unemployment rate was skyrocketing, Hobby Lobby raised the starting minimum wage, which was already higher than the federally mandated level. The company has increased the starting minimum wage $1/hour four years in a row. The company also built an extensive medical clinic for employees at the headquarters in Oklahoma City.
The family has strong religious beliefs, and they put their money where their mouth is. The company probably loses millions in sales because the stores are closed on Sundays. Each Christmas and Easter, Hobby Lobby takes out a full-page ad in the major newspaper of each town with a Hobby Lobby store. The ads have a religious theme, not the typical “50% Off!” ads that are so common for retail advertisements.
Half of all pre-tax earnings are given to a variety of evangelical causes. The list of donations is almost endless; Forbes estimates David has donated “upwards of $500 million,” including property to help the late Rev. Jerry Falwell, and tens of millions to save the almost-bankrupt Oral Roberts University, etc. The company is planning a national Bible museum to house the more than 44,000 religious artifacts that have been purchased and saved.
The ministry reaches around the world, too. The company has printed and distributed almost 1.4 billion copies of Gospel literature to more than 100 countries.
Jill Stanek is a nurse turned speaker, columnist and blogger, a national figure in the effort to protect both preborn and postborn innocent human life.
I’m sure their competitors are rubbing their hands together.
“property to help the late Rev. Jerry Fallwell, and tens of millions to save the almost-bankrupt Oral Roberts University” – what a waste. So much greater benefit could have been achieved with that money if applied usefully.
I read about this on Facebook! Thanks for spreading the word, Jill. I’ll be shopping at Hobby Lobby tomorrow. Not sure if they all have the same stock, but my local Hobby Lobby has so much more than craft items. They have furniture, frames, and lots of other items for the home. Really interesting pieces.
Do Hobby Lobby allow contraceptive users to buy their products? Atheists? People of less ‘restrictive’ faiths? What about pro-choice customers? Women who have had abortions? Unmarried couples? Gay people?
Will be shopping online. The nearest store to me is hours away. :)
Thank you Jill!!
No Reality.
None of those people can shop there. eyeroll
Sorry Paladin.
I fed him.
“Sorry Paladin.
I fed him.”
In your defense he looked very hungry.
What about people who support or….even worse, work for PP, will Hobby Lobby take their money too?
Love me some civil disobedience!! :)
Anticipating the pics tomorrow. Kind of a Chick Fil A moment.
So Hobby Lobby are happy to accept money from those who ‘violate the religious morals’ of the company’s owners?
And then they donate that money – some of which may well be ‘abortioneers blood money’ to their charitable causes? And live comfortably on the rest of it.
Hm.
Reality = logic fail
Customers living their lives according to their own morals =/= forcing the company’s owners to violate their morals. Duh.
So just how important are their morals to them? Lots, somehwat or a little bit?
Happy to take money from contraceptive users. Not happy when contraceptive cover is part of employee’s health coverage. It could possibly work out that the amount they contribute to employees contraception equals or is less than what they make from contraceptive users.
Hm.
So just how important are their morals to them? Happy to take money from contraceptive users. Not happy when contraceptive cover is part of employee’s health coverage.
About $1.3 million a day important. And I believe Hobby Lobby already offers contraception to their employees in their health plan. They object to the morning after and week after pills because they are abortafacient. Poor Reality. This thing about morals is so complex and hard to understand, eh?
Carla, I also don’t have a Hobby Lobby around me. Never occurred to me to shop online! SMH.
“This thing about morals is so complex and hard to understand, eh?” – not at all. You have yours and I have mine. I won’t make people use contraception but you can’t stop people from using it.
Like I said on the other thread:
Forget it pro-lifers, it’s Chinatown.
We have no common ground with Reality. We have nothing useful to say to each others. We ought to mutually acknowledge each other as morally depraved, and move on.
but you can’t stop people from using it
Good thing I’m not trying to.
Prolifist, yes, your post was very profound and I would have “liked” it 100 times if I could have. Guess I should stop banging my head on the desk, eh?
Ah, I must be getting the message through then ;-)
“We ought to mutually acknowledge each other as morally depraved” – but I don’t consider you morally depraved! Morally deprived a bit maybe.
I wish all you fine folks a fabulous weekend! Shopping at Hobby Horse or whatever.
I shall restrict myself to a medium level of moral turpitude. Maybe a glass or two of wine – in moderation as always eh ninek! – some fine music and food. Maybe even a little horizontal folk dancing.
Happy to take money from contraceptive users. Not happy when contraceptive cover is part of employee’s health coverage. It could possibly work out that the amount they contribute to employees contraception equals or is less than what they make from contraceptive users.
Hmm is right. So what you’re implying is that contraception is cheap, so, why not those that need it pay for it themselves? Yes, this is a rhetorical question because i already know your scripted answer.
I will be shopping at Hobby Lobby this weekend!
Reality doesn’t do his homework. The only contraception the Greens object to is abortifacient emergency contraception.
Reality: “Do Hobby Lobby allow contraceptive users to buy their products?”
So long as Hobby Lobby isn’t forced to pay for said contraceptives, then sure. Get it yet?
Reality: “So Hobby Lobby are happy to accept money from those who ‘violate the religious morals’ of the company’s owners?”
Yeah, and they hire them, too. They just don’t want to pay for something they don’t want to pay for.
“And then they donate that money – some of which may well be ‘abortioneers blood money’ to their charitable causes? And live comfortably on the rest of it.”
You still having a disconnect with all this?
God bless Hobby Lobby and give them the strength to persevere through these trials.
“I won’t make people use contraception but you can’t stop people from using it.”
Yes, because the owners of Hobby Lobby go to pharmacies and steal all of the EC so nobody can use it. Just like how the Amish blow up power plants so nobody can use electricity.
They talk about “supporting religious freedom”. What they are really doing is using politics and religion to create division and make a profit. A few years ago, Hobby Lobby was forced to recall camoflage Easter baskets due to lead content that would harm children….. Is that really the way God wants us to celebrate the death of his Son? Would Jesus be one of the 200 richest people in the USA and hire sweatshop labor in China, a country where forced abortion is the law? Is it Christian values to lie and cheat your customers? Don’t be fooled by the money changers. http://www.flickr.com/photos/thatcar/6294161253/
Already shopped online for my next Rachel’s Vineyard retreat. :)
Greg, at that time many, many toys were being tested for lead and removed from shelve at all kinds of stores. You said Hobby Lobby was ‘forced’ to remove ‘Easter baskets’.
1) They were not Easter baskets they were spinning top Easter eggs so you do not seem very well informed.
2) Your choice of the word ‘forced’ implies that Hobby Lobby resisted removing the toys from shelves once they found out about the lead paint in the toys? Either back it up or you have just shown yourself to be nothing more than an Obama political hack and an liar with an agenda to try and sway public opinion against those who oppose Obama AND against those who stand against the killing of unborn children.
Thank you Hobby Lobby and may the Lord continue to give you the strength to endure in your struggle to stand up for the value of children in the womb.
“What they are really doing is using politics and religion to create division and make a profit.”
Greg, their stand for religious freedom is costing them 1.3 million dollars a day in fines from the Obama HHS. And you say the motive is profit. You need to take off your Democrat Party colored classes.
$1.3 million/day is worth the investment to drive up sales….. David Green is a multibillionaire and continues to support Chineese factories that exploit their workers and a country where abortion is the law. Not very Christian.
Maybe Hobby Lobby can mandate that its employees not use their health insurance to obtain care at local hospitals. After all, hospitals routinely provide Plan B to victims of rape.
Wow! It has been a couple of years since I was last at Hobby Lobby. I’ll be a regular now. They have amazing things for the home and I was pleasantly surprised to find they carry an awesomely huge collection of scrapbooking stickers. Score!
Greg, I sincerely hope you are right about this decision helping Hobby Lobby’s bottom line. I also hope that Hobby Lobby and others are able to bring lawsuits on HHS and cause HHS to back-off and quit mandating people participate in killing unborn children. I know I am heartened at their courageous stand.
“Maybe Hobby Lobby can mandate that its employees not use their health insurance to obtain care at local hospitals. After all, hospitals routinely provide Plan B to victims of rape.”
That’s as silly as saying that they would try to withhold wages if their employee was using them to support gay rights or other such things. It’s different to actively force someone to participate in an action they find immoral (such as demanding that they personally pay for insurance policies that cover contraception), then them being inactive possible participants in the action (giving an employee wages, and then the employee buying birth control). Full disclosure: I don’t have any problem with birth control or the morning after pill, I just don’t see why people should be forced to participate in buying it if it’s against their morals. It’s not like in a case with taxes, where everyone is basically paying into a big pot and you don’t really control where your money goes.
I’m a really strict vegetarian. Do you think that if in some alternate world, if meat products were considered healthcare by some and covered by insurance, that I as a business owner should be forced to buy my employees policies that covered meat products? I would have an issue with that. I wouldn’t have an issue with paying my employees who may go on to use their money to buy meat.
BVH, 2:57PM
You seem blissfully ignorant of the fact that certain insurance plans only cover care at certain hospitals. I know of many patients who were limited to what hospital they could go to in our city by their employer insurance plans, and weren’t particularly happy about it. However the insurance company was considered well within its right to refuse to pay for treatment in other than a designated hospital, except maybe under extreme circumstances. Contrary to what you suggest, your employer cannot dictate where you choose to go for care, what kind of care you seek, or what you choose to pay for with your own money. Your employer however may have a policy that limits what hospitals you can seek medical care in and have coverage for. However, you are not stopped from paying out of pocket should you so choose.
So you see BVH, sometimes decisions are made for us concerning insurance coverage and where we can get care. Again, no one forces you to work for an employer or stops you from purchasing your own insurance. Also, since birth control pills cost $9/month at Walmart, it would seem the most you would be forced to sacrifice is a couple cups of Starbucks to pay for them.
Hi Jack,
Excellent post. Were you to open a store and refuse to sell meat, whether your reasons were religiously based or not is irrelevant. You are fully within your rights as a business owner to determine what you will or will not sell. You would also be within your rights to mandate that no employee is to eat meat products on the premises of your business. You would pay your employees and they could use their wages to eat what they darn well want outside of your store. You are not dictating what they eat or forcing your vegetarian beliefs on them.
Hopefully we’ve made it simple enough for some on this blog to comprehend.
Again, Mary, your analogy fails on multiple levels:
1. Women typically obtain and use contraception outside business premises.
2. Health insurance isn’t like food. It’s difficult to obtain. Usually the health insurance plan that employers provide is the only one that the employee has access to. Also, health insurance isn’t a gift on the part of the employer. Employees also forgo wages to help pay for it. So when you say you want women to “pay out of pocket” for birth control, what you’re really demanding is that they pay twice for it.
Jack,
It’s a stretch to argue that the owners of these businesses are “actively participating” in the behavior they find to be offensive. Nobody is asking them to stock Plan B on their shelves. Employees also help pay for the plan, meaning that it is, at least partially, the property of the employee. This is not simply an issue of business owners providing a service to which they morally object. It’s much more complex, making the First Amendment argument pretty untenable.
The employers of Hobby Lobby should just close up their crappy shop and start a church that preaches against the evils of contraception and the immoral skanks who use it. Its followers would be none too few, I’m sure.
BVH.
I guess I didn’t make it simple enough after all.
Women use contraception outside of work. Right, so the Hobby Lobby is not forcing its morality on employees. No one is stopping them from using contraception. They do receive a paycheck, correct?
You apparently missed the part where I pointed out that employers may offer insurance that limits the employee’s choice as to what hospital and clinic they can go to and still be covered. The employee may or may not be very happy with this. Take it or leave it. I’ve seen this situation more times than I can count. Patients have even had to reschedule non emergency surgery when they discovered their policy limited them to non emergency surgery only at certain hospitals in our city. Mothers have also been restricted as to what hospitals they can deliver at.
The employer has the right to choose the insurance and as such, the coverage. The employee may not like the coverage or find it inadequate or very restrictive. Take it or leave it. You don’t like it then buy your own or seek employment elsewhere.
Again BVH, forego a couple of cups of Starbuck’s and you can easily afford contraception along with other health essentials like toilet paper, toothpaste and brushes, midol, aspirin, jock itch powder, dental floss, Preparation H, and nasal spray. Women, and men, have been buying their own contraception for longer than I’ve been born, and that’s a long time. Only recently has this even become an issue.
Hi Mary,
You don’t seem to understand that employees are also financing part of their own insurance plan. They ARE already paying for it.
It is absolutely terrifying that you’re somehow a healthcare employee.
BVH,
I can only hope you do a better job of comprehending roadsigns than you do simple English.
That being said, I will now invoke Big Joe’s great words of wisdom.
Blue Velvet Hmmm says:
“It’s a stretch to argue that the owners of these businesses are “actively participating” in the behavior they find to be offensive.”
Some see it as a stretch, others see the connection quite clearly.
“making the First Amendment argument pretty untenable.”
Happily, for business owners that believe their religious and conscience rights are being trampled by this mandate, several courts have already disagreed with you.
BVM: “You don’t seem to understand that employees are also financing part of their own insurance plan. They ARE already paying for it.”
…and the employer gets to determine what is and what is not covered, and the prospective employee is then free to decide whether to work there or not.
So there you go.
Just a heads up. Blue Velvet is our old pal Megan.
Carry on.
“You still having a disconnect with all this?” – not at all. It’s perfectly clear. It is the owners of Hobby Lobby and their supporters who are suffering a disconnect.
“Yeah, and they hire them, too. They just don’t want to pay for something they don’t want to pay for.” – good point.
They are legally required to pay wages to their workers. Their workers may use those wages to purchase food, housing, transport, contraception, drugs, alcohol, stanic ritual paraphernalia or just about anything.
In some cases they are legally required to pay for healthcare for their workers. Their workers may in some cases use that to obtain contraception, amongst other items.
If they were Jehovah’s Witnesses would you support their campaign against healthcare for their workers because it includes blood transfusions?
They are not being forced to sell or use contraceptives.
They are happy to take ‘abortioneeers blood money’. Heck some of the stuff they sell may even be in abortion clinics! And they live on the proceeds.
Maybe its time you all did your little boycott thing on Hobby Lobby.
wah wah wah
Give it a rest already reality.
Good grief.
“Jack,
It’s a stretch to argue that the owners of these businesses are “actively participating” in the behavior they find to be offensive. Nobody is asking them to stock Plan B on their shelves. Employees also help pay for the plan, meaning that it is, at least partially, the property of the employee. This is not simply an issue of business owners providing a service to which they morally object. It’s much more complex, making the First Amendment argument pretty untenable.”
I didn’t say it was completely simple. I am just of the opinion that requiring policies that cover birth control falls under a First Ammendment violation. It’s cool that you don’t agree, we’ll see how the lawsuits go.
‘wah wah wah’ – ha, that’s funny considering the absolute whinge-fest that’s been whipped up by people complaining of having their religious rights violated because they aren’t allowed to violate the rights of others :-)
Hi Carla, 7:25PM
Definitely the time to heed Big Joe’s great words of wisdom.
Carla/mods, is the person using the moniker “Reality” a different person than the Reality of several months ago?
That would be weird, they type pretty much the exact same way.
I didn’t whine as I shopped online at Hobby Lobby.
Accept it. Move on. Take a blog break.
Lrning,
One and the same. :)
You think? Maybe I’m remembering wrong, but I thought Reality used to present some good arguments, even when I didn’t agree. Now I see ridiculous statements like “No it isn’t” with no supporting argument at all. I don’t remember him writing such insubstantial posts before. But maybe I’ve confused Reality with someone else. *shrug*
Ah, slow at typing. That “you think” was for Jack, not you Carla. Thanks for the info!
I meant like typing styles and slang, not arguments. He’ll still put up a decent argument now, apparently not about this subject though lol.
Two articles prattling on about the same ‘woe is me, oh dear, poor down-trodden christians losing 0.5% of their political privilege’ and you tell me to move on?! :-)
My argument is sound Lrning, you just don’t like it. The logic demonstrating the fallacy of their complaint and the fact that they’ll take from anyone but want to choose what they contribute to are both quite clear.
Prattling. lol
I will use that in a sentence tonight. Thanks.
Glad to assist in expanding your knowledge Carla ;-)
You are quite the public servant Reality!! I will give you that.
Well I don’t mean to keep prattling on here cause I have four former embryos to get to bed.
Good night peeps.