Hobby
Lobby, a for-profit corporation owned by a family of devout Christians, sued
the Department of Health and Human Services in September 2012 contending that
the contraception mandate of the Affordable Care Act was an unconstitutional
violation of its sincerely held religious beliefs. 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 “because Mr. Green is the owner of the company, he’s a
Christian, and those are his values.” Though the company apologized, 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 isn’t that the
company wants to meddle with women’s rights to take contraceptive drugs. “We’re
not trying to control that,” says Hobby Lobby co-founder Barbara Green. “We’re
just trying to control our participation in it.”
But
it appears that Hobby Lobby is going much further than protecting freedom by
providing funding for a group that backs a political network of activist groups
deeply engaged in pushing a Christian agenda into American law. They are 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 business
to discriminate against gays and lesbians and deny their employees
contraceptives under a maximalist interpretation of Free Exercise Clause of the
United Sates 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.
Outside
of the Supreme Court case, little has been reported about Hobby Lobby’s
political ties. The company is owned privately by the Green family and
generates more than $3 billion per year in revenue from its 602 stores. The
family proudly promotes its philanthropy to churches, ministries and Christian
community centers, dedicating half of the company’s pretax earnings to
Christian ministries. In 2007, Hobby Lobby’s founder and CEO, billionaire David
Green, pledged $70 million to Oral Roberts University, bailing out the
debt-ridden evangelical university. In 2012, Forbes reported, “Hobby
Lobby’s cash spigot currently makes [Green] the largest individual donor to
evangelical causes in America.”
But
until now, its political connections have been obscure.
Hobby
Lobby-related entities are some of the biggest sources of funding to the
National Christian Charitable Foundation, which backed groups that collaborated
in promoting the anti-gay legislation in Arizona – recently vetoed by Gov. Jan
Brewer – that critics say would have legalized discrimination against gays and
lesbians by businesses.
The
National Christian Charitable Foundation appears to be one of the biggest, if
not the biggest, single contributor to the Alliance Defending Freedom and the
Center for Arizona Policy, but because the foundation is a massive-donor
advised fund, its donors are shielded from public scrutiny. However, a 2009 NCF
tax filing offers insights into the deep pockets backing National Christian
Charitable Foundation. Nearly $65 million in contributions came from a
combination of Jon Cargill, who is the CFO of Hobby Lobby, and “Craft Etc.,” an
apparent misspelling of Crafts Etc. a Hobby Lobby affiliate company. The
document shows that Hobby Lobby-related contributions were the single largest
source of tax-deductible donations to National Christians Charitible’s
approximately $383,785 million in 2009 grant revenue.
While
the scope of the Hobby Lobby investment in National Christian Charitable has
not been known until now, the Green family has been open about its fondness for
the foundation. “National Christian [Charitable] Foundation provides a great
solution for our family, as well as our business, to do our giving. We highly
recommend them,” say a “review” of the fund by Hobby Lobby founder David Green
on the foundation’s website.
The
common thread is a much bigger trend across the country. “Individuals and
entities with religious objections to certain laws that protect others are seeking
to use their religion to trump others,” Brigitte Amiri, senior staff attorney
at the American Civil Liberties Union’s Reproductive Freedom Project reported.
(Both the AACLU and the National Women’s Law Center participated in amicus
briefs opposing Hobby Lobby.” The centrality of Hobby Lobby in the network
advancing this agenda is unmistakable.
Even
if Hobby Lobby loses its suit against the U.S. government, groups funded
through the National Christian Charitable Foundation will continue to test the
limits of the legal system’s interpretation of religious freedom. The Alliance
Defending Freedom itself is the organization
behind McCullen v. Coakley, a case its lawyers argued in front of the Supreme
Court in January challenging the constitutionality of a Massachusetts law that
creates a buffer zone around abortion clinics; the Alliance Defending Freedom
lawyers argue that the law creates a “censorship zone’ for antiabortion
protesters.
The
Alliance Defending Freedom, formerly known as the Alliance Defense Fund, is
also attempting to take the case of Elane Photography v. Willock to the Supreme
Court, making a similar argument about religious freedom. In 2006, New
Mexico-based Elane Photography refused to photograph a same-sex ceremony for
Vanessa Willock. Willock sued Elane Photography for discriminating against
same-sex couples and New Mexico Supreme Court ruled in favor of Willock. The
Becket Fund (a key player in the battle over Arizona’s SB 1062 and the upcoming
Supreme Court case.) has written an amicus brief supporting Elane Photography.
Similar
legislation to Arizona’s SB 1062 also appeared in at least 13 other states –
South Dakota, Kansas, Idaho, Tennessee, Colorado, Maine, Mississippi, Ohio,
Georgia, Hawaii, Oklahoma, Nevada and Utah. Though those efforts have died or
appear unlikely to pass following the setback in Arizona, the range of states
is a good indication of the national ambitions that the Alliance has for its
legislation.
While
the network of organizations funded by a foundation heavily backed by Hobby
Lobby’s executive and affiliate company are vocal about their support of the
Green family and other companies seeking an expansive interpretation of the
free exercise of religion, others are less enamored with the agenda promoted in
Arizona and in the upcoming court cases.
It appears that these companies are trying to use their religion as a
license to discriminate against others.
