How People Are Really Missing The Point About What's Wrong With The Hobby Lobby Case
The IJReview recently reported that Hobby Lobby, the conservative Christian business that's been under watch for the past few weeks, pays its employees $14 per hour.
Hobby Lobby pay their full-time employees a minimum of $14 an hour. That is nearly double the national average for minimum wage. The hourly wage for part-time employees is also $9.50.
The CEO and founder David Green said,
We are very fortunate to be able to increase hourly wages for our employees, because we know our company would not be successful without the great work they do each day in our stores across the nation.
The company pays its employees almost double minimum wage and with the opening of 30 stores, has created over 1,000 new jobs.
IJReview wonders how the US can expect to hear these facts, though, "over their own panicked screams concerning yesterday’s decision"?
The answer? We don't want to hear them.
I'm really glad Hobby Lobby pays its employees well. That's great. But the fact that the company pays "fair, realistic and livable wages" is irrelevant. Yesterday's decision is about far more than money and some tangible amount of cash that women may now have to spend on contraceptives.
Also, even at a "luxurious" $14 an hour, an out-of-pocket IUD could still cost employees around half a month's paycheck if they work 40 hours per week, and lots of companies prevent employees from doing that so they don't have to give full-time benefits.
The Hobby Lobby decision is about fundamental rights. It's about our country's inability to determine how much of a role religion should play in citizens' lives, and about how that role has increased an inappropriate amount.
It's about the fact that religion is penetrating far too deeply into the lives of Americans and into my uterus.
I shouldn't be legally obligated to abide by anyone's religion. The Atlantic did a great piece comparing the Hobby Lobby case to Islamic states and about how both issues are, at their cores, about a religion's role in the government.
As per the Constitution, we have religious freedom, but we also have areligious freedom, too.
Photo Courtesy: Tumblr
