In The NewsOpinion

Hobby Lobby to Close 500 Stores in 41 States

HiobbyLobby 2     

Arts and crafts and home decor retailer Hobby Lobby may be forced to close all its’ stores all because of Obama’s government law that says they must provide abortion causing drugs in their insurance policy. Hobby Lobby has always been a Christian organization who pays their employees very well (80% above minimum   wage to start) and gives them honorable benefits, but now thanks to Obama all that will come to an end. Now all those employees will lose their jobs. Thanks Obama. 

A government should not force people to go against their beliefs. It’s one thing if you are a baker or florist who doesn’t want to serve a gay couple etc. because that is none of their concern, but to force a company to provide abortion inducing drugs is quite the opposite in my book.

David Green the owner of Hobby Lobby recently posted the following letter on his Facebook page and sent it to all his employees so I ’ll let him explain the situation. I report, you decide.

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 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.

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 in the liberal media, please pass this on to all your contacts.

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

Support Conservative Daily News with a small donation via Paypal or credit card that will go towards supporting the news and commentary you've come to appreciate.

Jim Clayton

I am a retired former newspaper reporter and retail sales person. I'm a politically conservative easy going person from New Jersey. I am married to a wonderful wife and like talking and writing about movies,, concerts I attend and current events all which I write about here. I would enjoy hearing from anyone on my articles and they can write to me here.

Related Articles

3 Comments

  1. I ‘thought’ this was settled by courts along with birth control coverage…….but admit I’ve been watching other issues like election and border more closely so guess I missed it. If we (let) the Democrats win, this isn’t the only freedom we’ll lose.

    CDN has some well informed contributors on a variety of issues. WOULDN’T IT MAKE FOR INTERESTING CONVERSATION IF CONTRIBUTORS COMMENTED ON ANOTHER’S POST?

  2. January ’17 cannot come soon enough. In light of Obama picking up the pace on destroying every facet of traditional American life that is clean and good, I’m left wondering if anything will be left by the time this evil creature finally vacates the Oval Office.

Back to top button