The Freedom From Religion Foundation today called on all proponents of women’s rights and separation of church and state to boycott (and “girl-cott”) Hobby Lobby, a national retail craft-store chain. Hobby Lobby has 561 stores nationwide and revenues of more than $2.28 billion per year. It also employs 21,000 people.
FFRF, a national state/church watchdog is calling the consumer boycott in response to Hobby Lobby’s challenge of ObamaCare’s contraceptive mandate. The Supreme Court today accepted a case involving its challenge of the requirement that contraception be fully covered in insurance policies. Hobby Lobby unilaterally opposes some forms of contraception, based on the religious views of its founder David Green.
“The foundation of our business has been, and will continue to be strong values, and honoring the Lord in a manner consistent with biblical principles,” a statement on the Hobby Lobby website reads, adding that one outgrowth of that is the store is closed on Sundays to give its employees a day of rest.
The 10th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals agreed that corporations have the same religious rights as individuals.
Other, more reasonable courts such as the Third Circuit, have held that “for-profit, secular corporations cannot engage in religious exercise” and that a business owner’s religious rights do not allow that owner to impose his religion on his business’s employees. That decision, Conestoga Wood Specialties Corp. v. Secretary of U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, (3rd Cir., July 26, 2013), will also be reviewed by the Supreme Court.
“Religious dogma cannot trump women’s rights in our secular republic,” said FFRF Co-President Annie Laurie Gaylor. “Corporations do not have a right of conscience, women do. As Margaret Sanger pointed out long ago, ‘No women can call herself free unless she can decide for herself if and when she wants to become a mother.’ “
FFRF noted that the battle for women’s contraceptive rights ended more than half a century ago in the United States.
“The attack by the Religious Right against contraception is inexcusable in a civilized country,” Gaylor said. “Women make up more than half of the nation and we and our secular supporters must flex our consumer muscle and inaugurate an immediate boycott of Hobby Lobby.”
We ask other secular and feminist organizations to join us to speak out against religious control of women’s bodies.
Exercise your freedom… and shop somewhere else!
This year FFRF ran newspaper ads on July 4 countering Hobby Lobby’s annual disinformation campaign stating that America is a Christian nation. FFRF was censored by only one newspaper during that ad campaign, the Daily Oklahoman which shares a hometown “pride” with Hobby Lobby.
-Compiled by Lauryn Seering
