We're about to pile in the car and brave the cold with the entire family to go to Hobby Lobby, which Sadie will tell you is her favorite store in the entire world.
Today is Hobby Lobby Appreciation day, to show support for the company that's standing up to the government and saying no to the contraception mandate that was created last year in an attempt to force many business owners to violate their consciouses for something that is in effect already virtually free across the country.
Hobby Lobby is going to be fined over a million dollars a day if one of the courts doesn't rule against this violation of religious liberty, and from the statements I've read, they seem prepared to close down rather than pay for something that they believe is intrinsically evil.
If you're thinking about going the weekly ads and coupon can be found here! So go shop! Hobby Lobby is an awesome store and I'm sure you can find something you need while supporting a company whose standing up for what's right!
I almost have to agree with Sadie on this one. In my books Jo Ann's and Homegoods are very close seconds with Goodwill trailing a close third.
ReplyDeleteWe can't make it out there today, but I'm shopping their site! God bless them and the example they are setting. Hopefully they will not only energize the opposition to the HHS mandate, but also bring some to Christ because of their strong example.
ReplyDeleteHeading to ours soon! BTW the manger there is checking out your blog! LOL
ReplyDeleteOpen mouth, insert foot. Pretty soon you'll be thinking I am capable of nothing else. As the least radical catholic in your audience, I often feel compelled to be stupid - when I was working in the restaurant biz, we had a saying that no idea was too stupid to be said outloud, so just know I at least feel as stupid as I sound.
ReplyDeleteAt any rate, this mandate debate needs a good re-examining from both sides. Religious liberty issues aside (corporations aren't people and don't have faith), many of the companies in violation had contraceptive coverage prior to the ban... then they all seemed to discover it in their group policies and get angry. I'm all for business decisions being driven by ethics, but it os hard to look at it from that angle if the companies didn't consider the issue that seriously before it was a sexy political problem.
The arguement from religious liberty can't be used, because whether it is decided in favour of the standing law or the companies in protest, someone's freedom of concience actually is being abridged. Again, corporations aren't people. In the same way my employer cannot determine my household budget ot require me to attend confession, my emplyer cannot make the decision for me not to take a particular sin.
Having said that, I am still on the fence about birth control itself. God help me, his stubborn child.
But Zach, there's one difference (I'm guessing) between US Law and Canadian law that defeats this argument. The US Supreme court has ruled over and over again that as far as rights go, corporations basically are people.
ReplyDelete"in Pembina Consolidated Silver Mining Co. v. Pennsylvania - 125 U.S. 181 (1888), the Court clearly affirmed the doctrine, holding, "Under the designation of 'person' there is no doubt that a private corporation is included [in the Fourteenth Amendment]. Such corporations are merely associations of individuals united for a special purpose and permitted to do business under a particular name and have a succession of members without dissolution." [2] This doctrine has been reaffirmed by the Court many times since."
So in US Law corporations do have the right not to be compelled to violate their own beliefs (their owners beliefs) . And let's face it, while there is a right to religious freedom in our constitution, there's no right that says "you get free birth control" or anything of that sort that could even be read that way.
There's more on the corporations as people thing here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corporate_personhood_debate
Well, yes and no. For most practical purposes, corporations are people u.der the law,
Deleteinsofar as they pay taxes as one entity and have financial holdings as one entity, but historically that's as far as the SCC allows that personhood to go. Corporations don't get a vote, and don't have any protection under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, which is the potent component of the 1982 constitution act. This is because, with exception for very small corporations such as one might establish for liability reasons in opening a business, corporations almost never have a single owner, and even if they did, that owner is a distinct legal entity.
Tue argument for religious liberty works best from a sole proprietorship or partnership type situation. A better argument would be that, as I understand it, the American constitution forbids the government from making you buy something.
The mandate should have been on insurance comapnies to include the option in all plans. I seriously doubt you could argue that it is sinful to have the option to do something. Then again, I'm really not an authority on such things.
When discussing the HHS mandate/religious freedom issue, an analogy comes to mind.
ReplyDeleteThis seems to me very much like the government dictating to an Orthodox Jewish grocer that he must not only offer for sale, but also pay for, pork products for his employees. Of course, pork products are available at any number of other places to anyone who wants them, but the government has decided that it is the responsibility of the Orthodox employer to - in complete violation of his religious beliefs and conscience - provide them for free.
I venture to say that most thinking people would agree that the above example would be an outrageous violation of religious freedom. However, because the HHS contraception dictum is such a trendy issue, many people are ignoring simple common sense.
Go Hobby Lobby!
God bless!
Marie
I do agree, however, that different countries have different laws. Just weighing in.
ReplyDelete