Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee is encouraging supporters of Hobby Lobby to shop at the store to "support the Christian owners' fight against the Obama administration's [Health and Human Services] mandate," according to ChristianPost.com.
There are 500 Hobby Lobby stores in the U.S., one of which is in Athens. This is the largest corporation to file suit against the mandate.
Huckabee encouraged a similar effort back in August for Chick-fil-A, when the Christian-owned restaurant chain was mired in controversy over the founder's stance on same-sex marriage.
Will you show your support at Hobby Lobby today? Share your photos here if you visit the store.
Hobby Lobby is a Christian-owned company that describes itself as a Biblically founded business that believes that the "use of the morning-after and week-after birth control pills are tantamount to abortion because they prevent a fertilized egg from implanting in a woman's womb," according to CBS.com.
Subsequently, they filed a lawsuit requesting that a judge overturn the mandate to businesses that requires them to provide those services in their insurance coverage. (See video.)
Although the company considered the requirements objectionable, a judge denied their request. A government lawyer said that the drugs "do not cause abortions," and that the U.S. "has a compelling interest in mandating insurance coverage for them."
Churches and religious institutions and corporations have been given a reprieve from the mandates, but that is not the case for businesses.
The Green Family, founders of Hobby Lobby, face a $1.3 million daily fine that started on Jan. 1.
"On Saturday, January 5th, all Americans who value freedom of religion and oppose the HHS Mandate's unfair impositions upon religious individuals and corporate entities are called upon to show their support for Hobby Lobby by shopping either at their local retail Hobby Lobby store or online," wrote Huckabee on a Facebook event page.
So far, over 47,000 people have RSVP'd.
"It is by God's grace and provision that Hobby Lobby has endured," said David Green, founder and CEO in a statement. "Therefore we seek to honor God by operating the company in a manner consistent with Biblical principles."
The website for the event, StandwithHobbyLobby.com, states:
"Hobby Lobby is a respected and very successful business that is privately owned by a family who have sought to honor God in their personal lives and in their business. Their generosity to missions, to the relief of poverty around the world, to Christian education, and to their employees is legendary and exemplifies the kind of business principle that should be applauded and appreciated...
We will stand with them in their resistance. For we will either stand together or fall together. I choose to stand. What about you?"
