A 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 health care 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
covered in any of the liberal media, pass this on to all your
contacts.
David Green,
CEO and Founder of Hobby Lobby Stores,
Inc.
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