The Becket Fund FOR RELIGIOUS LIBERTY

Hobby Lobby v. Sebelius

Support Hobby Lobby: Send a thank you note to Greens letting them know you’re standing by their side.

Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc. began out of founder David Green’s garage and has grown from one 300-square-foot store to more than 500 stores in 41 states, becoming one of the nation’s leading arts and crafts retailers.

Devout Christians, the Green family believes that “it is by God’s grace and provision that Hobby Lobby has endured.” Therefore, the Greens seek to honor God by “operating their company in a manner consistent with Biblical principles.”

Believing their employees should have the opportunity to spend Sundays with their families, the company is closed on Sundays and only operates 66 hours per week.  Indeed, the Greens strive to apply the Christian teachings on respect and fairness to their employees, increasing the pay of Hobby Lobby’s full- and part-time hourly workers for four years in a row. Full-time hourly workers now start at 80 percent above the federal minimum wage.

The Hobby Lobby success story is a true example of the American dream. Now the Greens want to live another American dream: that every American, including business owners like the Greens, should be free to live and do business according to their beliefs.

The HHS mandate requires the family-owned business to provide insurance coverage for the “morning after pill” and “week after pill” contrary to their religious convictions or  pay up to 1.3 millions dollars per day in fines. The Greens believe that Hobby Lobby cannot fulfill its mission while paying for these drugs (the “morning after pill” and “week after pill”) that conflict with their beliefs. That is why on Wednesday, Sept. 12, Hobby Lobby filed suit in an effort to defend its constitutional freedom to carry out its mission in a way consistent with its owners’ religious principles.

The Green family has no moral objection to the use of preventive contraceptives and will continue its longstanding practice of covering these preventive contraceptives for its employees. However, the Green family cannot provide or pay for two specific abortion-inducing drugs. These drugs are Plan B and Ella, the so-called morning-after pill and the week-after pill.  Covering these drugs, as the government is forcing them to do under the threat of $1.3 million penalty per day, would violate their most deeply held religious belief that life begins at conception, when an egg is fertilized. The FDA-approved government birth control guide clearly states that these two drugs, the morning-after pill and the week-after pill, may prevent fertilized eggs from implanting in the womb, thus aborting the fertilized egg.

The Green family respects the religious convictions of all Americans, including those who do not agree with them. All they are asking is for the government to give them the same respect by not forcing them to violate their religious beliefs.

Support Hobby Lobby: Send a thank you note to Greens letting them know you’re standing by their side.

More About This >>

• http://www.becketfund.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/HLDavidBarbarapermission-cropped1-1024x782.jpg

  The Hobby Lobby success story is a true example of the American dream.  Now the Greens want to live another American dream--to be free to do business according to their beliefs.
• http://www.becketfund.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/HLDavidGreenstorepermission-cropped-1024x701.jpg

  Devout Christians, the Green family believes that “it is by God's grace and provision that Hobby Lobby has endured.” Therefore, the Greens seek to honor God by “operating their company in a manner consistent with Biblical principles.
  
• http://www.becketfund.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/HLbuildingpermission-1024x681.jpg

  Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc. began out of founder David Green’s garage and has grown from one 300-square-foot store to more than 500 stores in 41 states, becoming one of the nation’s leading arts and crafts retailers.  
• http://www.becketfund.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/familypermission.jpg

  Believing their employees should have the opportunity to spend Sundays with their families, the company is closed on Sundays and only operates 66 hours per week. 
• http://www.becketfund.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/HLemployeepermission-3m.jpg

  Indeed, the Greens strive to apply the Christian teachings on respect and fairness to their employees, increasing the pay of Hobby Lobby’s full- and part-time hourly workers for four years in a row. 
  
• http://www.becketfund.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/femaleemployee-permission1.jpg

  Full-time hourly workers now start at 80 percent above the federal minimum wage. 
• http://www.becketfund.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/HLpaperpermission-1024x681.jpg

  The HHS mandate requires the family-owned business to provide insurance coverage for the “morning after pill” and “week after pill” contrary to their religious convictions or  pay up to 1.3 millions dollars per day in fines. 
• http://www.becketfund.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/Hobby-Lobby-Interior-Fabrics-permission-1024x683.jpg

  The government is forcing the Green family to choose between following our faith and following the law. That’s a choice no American – and no American business – should have to make.