Perhaps some sanity will prevail when the pendulum swings away from Socialism back to the policies that made America great.
HOBBY LOBBY MAY CLOSE ITS DOORS
This could be the begining of a lot of Christian companies saying enough is enough.
"Life without God is like an unsharpened pencil - it has no point."
Hobby Lobby may be forced to abandon founding principles or go out of business--
Letter from Hobby Lobby Stores CEO
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 accept 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,
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