Hobby Lobby Goes ‘Over The Cliff’

[Draggingtree]

Wizbang:

Hobby Lobby Goes ‘Over The Cliff’

 

January 1, 2013 | Filed under Asshats,Big government,Categories,Courage,Obamacare | Posted by Michael Laprarie

If you haven’t been following the headlines, Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc. is headed “over the cliff,” today, with respect to its decision to defy the Obamacare mandate covering birth control and “morning after” contraceptives.

Here’s what makes the story interesting. Hobby Lobby Stores Inc. is a privately owned company, founded and operated by David Green. Green is very well known as an outspoken Evangelical Christian who has publicly professed to building his business based on Biblical principles. Like the Cathy family who operates the Chick-Fil-A restaurant chain, Green closes his stores on Sunday. He also contributes millions of dollars each year to charity. Hobby Lobby Stores Inc. is self-insured, and provides full coverage health insurance to 13,000 of its company’s 21,000 employees. He runs a clinic that provides free health care to insured employees, and reduced cost health services to others. Hobby Lobby also sets its starting pay for full time employees at $11.00 an hour, $3.75 more than the Federal minimum wage.

All of these items read like a proverbial wish list of “fair working conditions,” the kinds of things that should elicit strong support from liberals.

But apparently none of this matters any more, for David Green and his family have committed an essentially unpardonable sin in the eyes of liberals: they view morning after pills as simply another form of pharmaceutical abortifacients.* Consequently, the health insurance that his company offers its employees pays for other forms of birth control, but does not pay for morning after pills.

[Valin]

What would happen if they just shut their doors?

[Draggingtree]

Pursuant to my last post

What are we prepared to do? Howsabout we take a page from Hobby Lobby — with its icky social conservative values, and embarrassing Christian pieties — and stand up for its liberty by simply denying the government and the courts their usurped authority?

“Hobby Lobby Defies Obama Administration with Civil Disobedience for Religious Liberty”:

 

 

Now that Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor has denied Hobby Lobby’s application for an emergency injunction protecting them from Obamacare’s HHS Mandate on abortion and birth control, Hobby Lobby has decided to defy the federal government to remain true to their religious beliefs, at enormous risk and financial cost.

Hobby Lobby is wholly owned and controlled by the Green family, who are evangelical Christians. The Greens are committed to running their business in accordance with their Christian faith, believing that God wants them to conduct their professional business in accordance with the family’s understanding of the Bible. Hobby Lobby’s mission statement includes, “Honoring the Lord in all we do by operating the company … consistent with Biblical principles.”

The HHS Mandate goes into effect for Hobby Lobby on Jan. 1, 2013. The Greens correctly understand that some of the drugs the HHS Mandate requires them to cover at no cost in their healthcare plans cause abortions.

Today Hobby Lobby announced that they will not comply with this mandate to become complicit in abortion, which the Greens believe ends an innocent human life. Given Hobby Lobby’s size (it has 572 stores employing more than 13,000 people), by violating the HHS Mandate, it will be subject to over $1.3 million in fines per day. That means over $40 million in fines in January alone. If their case takes another ten months to get before the Supreme Court—which would be the earliest it could get there under the normal order of business—the company would incur almost a half-billion dollars in fines. And then of course the Supreme Court would have to write an opinion in what would likely be a split decision with dissenters, which could easily take four or six months and include hundreds of millions of dollars in additional penalties.

This is civil disobedience,

 

In other words, is religious liberty just what you do in church on a Sunday morning, or does it include what you do during the week at your job?

[Valin]

@Draggingtree

 

 

In other words, is religious liberty just what you do in church on a Sunday morning, or does it include what you do during the week at your job?

 

 

According to Obama and the left it is just what is done in Church on Sunday.

 

Wonder what would happen if religious institutions said they were no longer in the social services business, and simply started shutting down hospitals, schools....etc?

 

What if Catholic bishops aren’t bluffing?

 

 

12% of the hospitals are run by the Catholic church. (According to Wikipedia) 2 million students attended 6,980 schools.

Then there are those run by other religions.

 

Send a message...We'll be open when we get out religious freedom back.

 

 

[Rheo]

Tomorrow is Hobby Lobby appreciation day!

[Draggingtree]

Hobby Lobby CEO Pens Tragic Letter About Loss of Religious Freedom

by Steven Ertelt | Washington, DC | LifeNews.com | 1/4/13 11:44 AM

The CEO of Hobby Lobby has penned a tragic letter about the loss of religious freedom and liberty in America. The Christian crafts company has been forced by the Obama administration to pay for drugs for its employees in their health care plan that may cause abortions.

Doing so violates the religious freedom of the founders and owners of Hobby Lobby, but the firm has, so far, been unsuccessful in getting courts to give it an exemption while its lawsuit against the HHS mandate continues.

Tens of thousands of Americans have committed to support the Christian crafts store Hobby Lobby on Saturday, January 5 after courts have refused to issued an ruling stopping the Obama HHS mandate.

The letter from Hobby Lobby CEO David Green that LifeNews received follows:

When my family and I started our company 40 years ago,

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.

http://www.lifenews.com/2013/01/04/hobby-lobby-ceo-pens-tragic-letter-about-loss-of-religious-freedom/