Congratulations, Hobby Lobby

A majority of U. S. Supreme Court Justices loved your masterful defense of Christian privilege for company owners like yourself. Good for you. You are every bit as good as churches and non-profits.

This is an enormous feather in your cap. Your personal faith was applauded in the highest court in the land. "Sincerely held" beliefs. From their mouth to God's ears.

You were already a legend among evangelical Christians. Your money is a very big deal. They call you and your family "Kingdom givers" and "a shining light in the Christian community." It is not pride, vanity, or arrogance when the accolades are deserved.

Even the secular Forbes Magazine called you "a Christian company in every sense."

Ignore the spoilsports that question your selling of junk made in China where religious persecution is real, abortions are encouraged by the government, and worker exploitation a deadly reality.

Products bearing "Made in China" labels are found all over the shelves at Hobby Lobby, evidence that some of its wares come from Chinese factories that have a reputation for labor rights violations and rock-bottom wages. Employees at these facilities often end up working grueling hours in prison-like conditions and never earn enough to escape poverty. 

"You cannot call your business 'Christian' when arguing before the Supreme Court, and then set aside Christian values when you're placing a bulk order for cheap wind chimes," wrote Christian author and columnist Jonathan Merritt in a recent article for The Week.

Haters gonna hate.

And gloaters gonna gloat. We all know where God stands on the political spectrum.

The desire to make money does not act as a waiver of constitutional or statutory rights, nor is it morally suspect, but it certainly is indispensable to a system of free enterprise that all too many on the Left view as the enemy of “social justice.” 

It may seem like hypocrisy to some that you still cover erectile dysfunction pills and penis pumps, but you are just pro-creation in not wanting to see medical interference with pregnancy unless there are fertility problems. Even if your actions increase unwanted pregnancies, there is no contradiction in opposing contraception and abortion. We all know it is a slippery slope, so to speak. Your belief that life begins at fertilization is "sincerely held" and must be obeyed, especially those women that work for you and might have been tempted to use an intrauterine device.

Never mind those complicated questions blurring the lines between individual and corporate rights. Christian ethicists like David Gushee seem to forget that a true Christian would never abuse their position of authority.

The whole point of establishing a corporation is to create an entity separate from oneself to limit legal liability. Therefore, Hobby Lobby is asking for special protections/liability limits that only a corporation can get on the one hand, and special protections that only individuals, churches and religious organizations get, on the other. It seems awfully dangerous to allow corporations to have it both ways.

I confess to not being able to see see how this high-profile, divisive case serves the cause of Christ. It must be a complete failure of imagination on my part.