Have you jumped on it? It keeps circling me. I see news reports and articles all over the place. My first instinct was to just hop right on. But as my husband and I started talking about it, I just couldn't bring myself to do it. I kept thinking, "But on the other hand, is it right to jeopardize thousands of employees' jobs because of your own personal convictions?" In today's economy, I wonder how their employees feel about the line Hobby Lobby has drawn. Believe me, I am against abortion. I speak out against it often. I have friends and relatives that have had abortions, and the effects are long-term and devastating. I am also against abortifacients. I believe life begins at conception. But I was having a hard time believing that HL was willing to endanger their entire company and thousands of jobs over a pill that MIGHT be taken by one of their employees.
A friend and I went out for coffee one night and started talking about it. She reminded me that HL buys a lot of their items in China.Wait a minute...What??!! We all know that China FORCES thousands of women each year to have abortions. I went home and told my husband. He does a few minutes of research. Hobby Lobby OWNS a Chinese buying company! This blows me away. How can they possibly reconcile these two things in their minds? How do you draw a line with one government, only to be holding hands with an even worse government?? This "line in the sand" mentality now seems very arbitrary indeed.
So the bandwagons will have to just keep circling. I won't be riding along.
I think I’ll add my two cents to this discussion Tracy…not that it’s worth anything.:) My #1 reason for not jumping on the bandwagon is: Hobby Lobby is trying to use the First Amendment as an umbrella but, as a secular employer they DO NOT have the legal right to do such. There is no 501c3 status for them to fall under because they are “for profit”. As a 501c3 there are several categories they could operate under to protect "their" religious freedom but as secular employers they are required to operate like all other secular employers. The Laws that govern employers are meant to protect the employees not the employers. In most cases, they prevent the employers from imposing their beliefs on their employees.
ReplyDeleteThe First Amendment states: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances". If Hobby Lobby was a church this would be a whole different ball game. If the owners of Hobby Lobby are allowed to be exempt from providing health care coverage to their employers for religious reasons under the First Amendment, where will it end?
Excellent reasoning! The weird thing is that most Christians are on the bandwagon because of the First Amendment. I've read it in every article that has been pro-Hobby Lobby. It's kind of like the way some Christians read their Bibles nowadays. "How can I make this apply to me?" It's taken completely out of context to manipulate the solution. Thanks for sharing, Urban Pastures! :D
ReplyDelete