Hobby Lobby’s secret agenda: How it’s quietly funding a vast right-wing movement

[xchrom]

http://www.salon.com/2014/03/27/hobby_lobbys_secret_agenda_how_its_secretly_funding_a_vast_right_wing_movement/


David and Barbara Green, co-founders of Hobby Lobby Stores Inc. (Credit: AP/Hobby Lobby/Tony Gutierrez)

Hobby Lobby says it’s just trying to protect its religious freedom. The family-founded and -run company is closed on Sundays, has an employee manual that includes biblical references, and announces on its website its commitment to “Honoring the Lord in all we do by operating the company in a manner consistent with biblical principles.” The company got in hot water last year when an employee told a blogger that no Hanukkah decorations were stocked “ecause Mr. Green is the owner of the company, he’s a Christian, and those are his values.”

Though the company went on to apologize, the battle for its Christian identity was revived this week when lawyers for the company argued before the Supreme Court that the company should not have to comply with the Affordable Care Act’s contraception mandate. The issue, says Hobby Lobby co-founder Barbara Green, isn’t that the company wants to meddle with women’s rights to take contraceptive drugs. “We’re not trying to control that,” she said. “We’re just trying to control our participation in it.”

But a document published here for the first time reveals Hobby Lobby appears to be going much further than protecting freedom, providing funding for a group that backs a political network of activist groups deeply engaged in pushing a Christian agenda into American law. The document shows entities related to the company to be two of the largest donors to the organization funding a right-wing Christian agenda, investing tens, if not hundreds, of millions of dollars into a vast network of organizations working in concert to advance an agenda that would allow businesses to discriminate against gays and lesbians and deny their employees contraceptives under a maximalist interpretation of the Free Exercise Clause of the United States Constitution.

That network of activist groups has succeeded in passing legislation in Arizona requiring women to undergo an ultrasound before an abortion, banning taxpayer-funded insurance paying for government employees’ abortions, defining marriage as a union between a man and woman, and funding abstinence education. And there’s evidence that its efforts go well beyond the borders of the Copper State.

[grilled onions]

1. They Should Rename Themselves Hobby Lobbyists

Why is it their freedom always stomps on the toes of those who do not think like they do?

[LuvNewcastle]

2. I hope their business is substantially harmed by all of this.

I would imagine that women make up a large part of their regular clientele. If word gets around that they're working to turn back the clock on women's rights, it could really hurt them. Let's hope that word gets around.

[Sweet Freedom]

3. I've been trying to get their Christian

customers to turn on Hobby Lobby by pointing out that they shouldn't support abortion by shopping at a company that buys merchandise from china.

Maybe HL will end up with no customers.

[niyad]

4. why am I not surprised? the utter contempt they have for women, for their customers, is

almost beyond imagining.

several years ago, a friend and I went into a hobby lobby for something she needed. As she was looking around, I decided to use the restroom. It was toward the back, down a very dark and crowded hallway. Posted next to the door of the restroom was a sign that said that, in entering hobby lobby, you gave permission for them to search your belongings, and even go out and search your car, for any reason. I found my friend, and showed her the sign. Then we went to the manager, and said, fine, if you insist on assuming all your customers are thieves, and want to treat them as such, that is your business. However, if this is the way you feel, then that sign should be posted clearly on every single FRONT door, not down some dark hallway, so that people can determine whether they wish to give their custom to a place that assumes they are all thieves.

I knew about their religious nuttery, so this was just one more reason never to set foot in one again.

[CrispyQ]

5. I hope this hurts their business badly.

I am so sick of these fucking hypocrites. Mr. Green wants to be separated from his corporation when it comes to liability but not when it comes to his personal beliefs.

[mountain grammy]

6. Me too. I hope they end up out of business.

I wouldn't step foot in one if they were giving stuff away.