Hobby Lobby Founder-May Close
ALL Stores
Hobby Lobby May Close.
David Sloan “The wisdom that comes from above is, first, pure, then peaceable,
gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, without uncertainty or
insincerity.” – James 3:17
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
Christianorganizations 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.
