Just because you plan to build a “massive” Bible museum, donate millions to fund various colleges, and are a self-righteous anti-Obama evangelical does not allow you to flaunt the law of the land.  Sorry, but something stinks about the whole Green family demand that THEY be allowed to screw their employees out of contraceptives because they don’t believe in abortion and may be required to have their insurance pay out a couple of bucks for one of their employees, who was raped (she was probably asking for it) to get RU-486, which is over the counter.

On the surface, the battle the Green family, who owns Hobby Lobby is the perfect vehicle to test Obamacare, and the evils of forcing good Christian businesses to behave like the rest of us.  The right is awash in ire that now, Hobby Lobby has been told to put up or shut up, or pay something like $1.3 million bucks a day for the privilege of being run by good Christians.

The Green family are Free Will Baptists.  For anyone who knows anything about the Baptist Church, they are almost as wacky as Primitive Baptists who go around playing with snakes.  Free Will Baptists are terribly conservative.  Many of their churches were involved in preaching out against Barack Obama.  It’s a political thing.

Many don’t consider Catholics to be proper Christians.  Let’s not even bother asking what they think of evil Episcopalians like The Pink Flamingo.  They’re not too friendly toward Catholics, and really don’t like Calvinists.  (I don’t blame them there).

BUT – anyone who thinks this is about religious freedom is lying to themselves and everyone else.

“...The lower court, which, in November, denied Hobby Lobby emergency relief, relied heavily on the lower court’s dismissal of the O’Brien Business’ case on its ruling. When a federal appeals court reversed the lower court decision in the Missouri case, Hobby Lobby’s attorneys hoped the 10th circuit will reverse in its case as well.

The privately held retail chain with more than 500 arts and crafts stores in 41 states filed a lawsuit against the Obama administration over its HHS mandate. The company says it would face $1.3 million in fines on a daily basis starting in January if it fails to comply with the mandate, which requires religious employers to pay for or refer women for abortion-cause drugs that violate their conscience or religious beliefs.

“Today’s shocking decision from the 10th Circuit is an utter rebuke of religious freedom. Hobby Lobby now faces fines of up to 1.3 million dollars a day if it’s owners refuse to violate their consciences by paying for and providing abortion-causing drugs for its employees. This is a dereliction of duty of the part of the courts to protect IRS citizens from bureaucratic bullies who care little for the First Amendment,” said Ashley McGuire, Senior Fellow with The Catholic Association, after the appeals court ruling in that case.

The lawsuit was filed in the US District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma and U.S. District Judge Joe Heaton issued a ruling rejecting Hobby Lobby’s request to block the mandate. Judge Heaton said that the company doesn’t qualify for an exemption because it is not a church or religious group.

“Plaintiffs have not cited, and the court has not found, any case concluding that secular, for-profit corporations such as Hobby Lobby and Mardel have a constitutional right to the free exercise of religion,” the ruling said.

Heaton wrote that “the court is not unsympathetic” to the company’s desire to not pay for abortion-causing drugs but he said the Obamacare law “results in concerns and issues not previously confronted by companies or their owners.”…”

What the Green family does is laudable.  They have a good track record of treating their employees decently.  I’m not sure what their official stand on gays is, but, I’ve seen several in managerial positions in various stories.  This is good.

What is bad, though, is the idea that, because they are very rich, and very religious, they get the same exemptions as a religious institution.  For the record, I don’t think religious institutions should be exempt from the law of the land.  It’s a Henry II thing that goes back to Thomas a Becket, when Becket said the clergy was above the law, even in matters of murder.

Do I sound contemptuous of people like the Green family?

You’re darn right I am.

The Pink Flamingo grew up in, and spent most of my life living in the buckle of the Bible Belt. I know people like this.  I will be willing to bet my toy poodle, Ronald Rumsfeld Reagan Reidhead, that the Green family has had at least one abortion.

Then there is the question of Chinese slave labor for Hobby Lobby products.

Then there are the working conditions and the corporate lies.

 

I don’t really care about this, the disgruntled employees, or how they run their company.  What I care about is the fact that a self-righteous, ego driven, billionaire thinks HE is better than everyone else.  Once again, this is NOT about religious freedom, but far right billionaire worship.

What about all the millions of small business owners, who are Christian.  They don’t believe in abortion, but aren’t rebelling.  They can’t afford to do so.  What’s the use?  Most Christians I know are rational enough to comprehend that RU-486 is NOT an abortion, but a heavy duty dose of hormones to prevent a pregnancy.

That doesn’t matter here.  What matters is once again, the far right billionaire thinks HE is better than everyone else.  HE is above the law. HE is going to buy and sell politicians to get what HE wants.

Sorry, but I think it’s a bunch of crap.

What is going to be interesting is the fact that the 10th District Court ruled that Citizen’s United allowed privately owned businesses to avoid paying for contraceptives.  This is going to be interesting.  I wonder if both organizations are paying for Viagra for their employees.  I bet they are!