The Hobby Lobby CEO Letter Everybody’s Talking About

h/t JT

http://www.familysecuritymatters.org/publications/detail/the-hobby-lobby-ceo-letter-everybodys-talking-about

The Hobby Lobby CEO Letter Everybody’s Talking About

by SCOTT MCKAY December 1, 2012

David Green is the founder and CEO of Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc., which is challenging the Obamacare contraceptive mandate. This letter is an excellent illustration of how stupid one-size-fits-all federal policies trample individual freedom.

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.

Scott McKay, a sales, marketing and business consultant, is the Publisher/Blogger at TheHayride.com, a news/commentary blog about Louisiana and national politics.  

El Presidente beginning to see his all-powerful grip on the nation slipping?

Is El Presidente loosing it?  Have the floodgates started to open?  What do you think?

ADF SCORES FIRST VICTORY AGAINST OBAMA'S UNCONSTITUTIONAL HHS MANDATE

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by KEN KLUKOWSKI 28 Jul 2012, 4:13 AM PDT 10 POST A COMMENT

On August 1, Obamacare’s latest outrage goes into effect as the “HHS Mandate” takes effect, and the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) just scored the first victory in religious liberty against this authoritarian decree days before its implementation.

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) issued a regulation under Obamacare requiring almost all employers to cover abortion, birth control, and sterilization services. There are exemptions for nonprofit “religious employers,” but this term’s definition in the regulation is so ridiculously narrow that it would include churches and synagogues, by likely exclude a school, clinic, or hospital run by that house of worship.

Several states and religious institutions filed challenges to this mandate, which requires Catholics and adherents of various other faiths—such as some Evangelicals—to violate their religious faiths. Those cases have all been dismissed, because the plaintiffs have been unable to prove as this point that they will fall outside any interpretation of the religious exemption or otherwise be excluded from the scope of this governmental command. These courts haven’t ruled against the plaintiffs on the merits; they’ve instead held that litigation is premature at this point.

ADF designed a case that gets around that issue. The plaintiffs here are members of the Newland family, and the business they own, Hercules Industries, is an air conditioning business (pictured above). The Newlands are devout Catholics trying to live out the teachings of their faith through their business policies, yet they are a secular, for-profit business, thus outside any interpretation of the religious exemption to the HHS Mandate.

ADF filed a motion for a preliminary injunction, asking the U.S. District Court in Colorado to order the mandate cannot be enforced against the Newlands and Hercules while this litigation is ongoing. Judge John Kane issued that injunction on July 27, finding that the plaintiffs have a “substantial likelihood” of final success on the merits of their lawsuit.  

Kane explained that this injunction is to preserve the status quo until the lawsuit can run its course to a final ruling of whether the HHS mandate is invalid as applied to Americans who religiously object to it. The administration argued that granting the injunction would thwart Congress’ goal of improving healthcare. But Kane responded that even if true, “These interests are countered, and indeed outweighed, by the public interest in the free exercise of religion.”

So Newland satisfied the legal standard of showing that here, “questions going to the [legal] merits [are] so serious, substantial, difficult, and doubtful as to make the issue ripe for litigation and deserving of more deliberate investigation.”

Judge Kane also found it unnecessary to examine the constitutional claims here because this regulation likely violates the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA), which makes it illegal for regulations to “substantially burden a person’s exercise of religion even if the burden results from” laws that generally apply to everyone regardless of religion. Under RFRA, such burdens are allowed only if it achieves a compelling public interest and if it is the least restrictive means of doing so.

This victory is by no means final, but it’s the first of its kind. As ADF’s lawyer on this case, Matt Bowman, said today, “Every American, including family business owners, should be free to live and do business according to their faith. Hercules Industries will be able to do just that.” He’s right, and now we’ll see if the courts continue to agree.  

Breitbart News legal contributor Ken Klukowski is a senior fellow for religious liberty at the Family Research Council.

http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2012/07/27/ADF-Scores-First-Victory-Against-Obama-s-Unconstitutional-HHS-Mandate