If Hobby Lobby Had a Hobby, It Would Be Stirring Up Controversy

Craft store Hobby Lobby is known for seeking to pushing its spiritual beliefs onto customers. Here are thrice Hobby Lobby used to be underneath hearth.

“I would fairly make crafts from stuff I to find in a dumpster than shop at Hobby Lobby,” declared Twitter person @86Whitemoonlily. “Forever achieved with Hobby Lobby. I'll pressure the extra Five miles to Michael's. #BoycottHobbyLobby," opined user @africanpride_00.

The platform was ablaze with hate for the American craft retailer in August 2022 after a photo of its full-page Independence Day ad, which ran in several newspapers across the U.S., went viral.

Tweeted by @RandyResist in late August, the ad was titled "One Nation Under God" and included the Bible verse "Blessed is the Nation whose God is the lord.”

It additionally shared quotes from our founding fathers that insinuated that the U.S. was once built on the foundations of Christianity. But because the Freedom From Religion Foundation noted in 2018 when the corporate printed a identical advert, Hobby Lobby frequently takes quotes out of context and misconstrues them for their own receive advantages.

Many users on Twitter expressed their unhappiness in the retailer, as they believed its ad did not just promote Christianity, however it also indirectly tore down different religions.

U.S. Army veteran David Weissman responded to the ad on Twitter with the following: "Shame on you @HobbyLobby. As an American Jew who served in the United States Army and took an oath to defend the Constitution; I find your statement of America should be lead by Christians to be asinine and unconstitutional."

But this isn't the primary time the corporate caused an uproar. In fact, this is in reality one of Hobby Lobby's much less explosive actions. Keep scrolling as we talk about previous controversies at Hobby Lobby.

Hobby Lobby illegally imported 5,500 historical artifacts from Iraq for $1.6 million.

In 2010, Hobby Lobby bought hundreds of items all through an auction from unnamed sellers primarily based within the United Arab Emirates and Israel, consistent with PBS.

However, the pieces that Hobby Lobby received have been relics from Iraq that had been falsely labeled such things as "ceramic tiles" or "clay tiles (sample)" with a view to get thru customs. Since 1990, there were strict restrictions put on importing items from Iraq to the U.S., and this was unlawful.

Eventually the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement caught on, and in 2018, Hobby Lobby ended up paying a $Three million positive and was ordered to send all the artifacts again.

In a statement, Hobby Lobby owner and president David Green famous that "the company was new to the world of acquiring these items" and “will have to have exercised more oversight and in moderation questioned how the acquisitions have been treated," hinting that the smuggling was a result of the company's lack of experience at auctions.

However, many folks believed that the retailer participated in this fraud sale intentionally as Green had a penchant for biblical-era objects. Not to mention that he and his family own the Museum of the Bible, which could have easily housed these artifacts. Some folks have hypothesized that the unnamed dealer that Green bought the items from was ISIS.

Green has denied claims that the artifacts were intended for his museum. It's unknown if he was actively aware of what was really going on in this transaction.

Hobby Lobby refused to cover birth control for its employees and won the case in court.

Hobby Lobby also made headlines when it rejected to cover employees' birth control due to David Green's religious beliefs. In 2014, the arts-and-crafts retailer brought the case to court, where it was heard by the Supreme Court.

In Burwell v. Hobby Lobby Stores, the Court ruled against birth control access in a 5-to-4 decision, with the majority of the justices agreeing that Hobby Lobby and other “closely held corporations” could deny birth control coverage to their employees.

This was the first time the Supreme Court allowed “the commercial, profit-making world” to deny people access to basic health care like birth control because of religious beliefs. It was a groundbreaking victory for the retailer, but a huge loss to women.

What maddened many consumers though was the fact that female employees could not have their birth control covered, but male employees would still be able to get medication for sexual dysfunction under the company's insurance.

Boycotts over Hobby Lobby are a dime a dozen.

Given their many public controversies, it's no wonder that Hobby Lobby gets targeted by consumer boycotts on an annual basis. The company has found itself in open opposition to several civil rights movements, leading to yearly pleas for consumers to avoid business with them.

Aside from the aforementioned controversies, Hobby Lobby has also invited scandal with their unfriendly employee practices during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown as well as their blatant anti-LGBTQ+ history. Gobby Lobby previously donated millions to non-profit anti-LGBTQ+ hate groups and opposed bathroom usage for gender-non conforming employees in their workplaces. They also received backlash in 2013 for making anti-Semitic remarks amidst their lack of Jewish vacation pieces on sale.

Though they would eventually start selling Jewish holiday-themed pieces of their stores in 2021, the incident handiest adds to the mounting controversies that Hobby Lobby turns out all too desperate to incur in their operations.

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