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