A Bible curriculum created by the president of the craft chain Hobby Lobby has been approved for use in an Oklahoma school district.
Mustang Public Schools says the course created by Steve Green’s foundation focuses on the history, meaning and the influence of the Old and New Testaments will be an elective course.
“The course is an elective,” Mustang Schools Superintendent Sean McDaniel told the Christian Post. “When our pre-enrollment packets were returned by students earlier this semester, more than 170 students indicated the course would be their first choice for an elective class.”
The Green Scholars Initiative worked with over 70 scholars of different faiths from Jersualem, Oxford University and Baylor University to create the course. The content has been put through a “rigorous review” to ensure there is no Christian bias in the text.
Critics admit that teaching the Bible itself is not a violation of church and state. However, they worry that the teachers will use the class to teach Christian apologetics.
Hobby Lobby’s challenge to the contraception mandate in the Affordable Care Act is scheduled for oral arguments before the Supreme Court Tuesday.
The challenge, if upheld by the court, would establish the right of Christian business owners and other people of faith to operate their businesses based on their beliefs. It would also extend the long-claimed rights of individuals to religious freedom to business entities.
The Obama Administration’s defense in the case is that companies are not individuals and therefore the government can deny free exercise rights and force them to do whatever the government wants in return for being allowed to operate.
Hobby Lobby’s challenge to the law has been folded in with multiple other cases but the company is one of two major for-profit corporations that are issuing a challenge to the law. If the law is upheld, it would cost Hobby Lobby almost $475 million a year to operate without providing the coverage that goes against the owner’s faith.
Hobby Lobby’s attorneys are expected to point out to the court that the Administration has given exemptions to non-profits and religious organizations that have the same objections.
Arts and crafts retailer Hobby Lobby has officially filed their brief with the U.S. Supreme Court in their lawsuit against the Obama administration and the Affordable Care Act.
The brief supports the chain’s position that the government forcing them to provide contraception care that includes the abortion pill is forcing them to violate their religious beliefs and thus is a violation of the Constitution’s protections of religious freedom.
The brief focuses on the company’s original mission statement that clearly lays out the religious foundation behind the company. It reads that Hobby Lobby will be “honoring the Lord in all we do by operating the company in a manner consistent with Biblical principles.”
The brief calls the mandate from the Obama administration “one of the most straightforward violations…this Court is likely to see of a 1993 law preserving the exercise of faith.”
The Obama administration claims that you cannot allow a business owner to transfer their beliefs into a company they own and operate.
Hobby Lobby, who has filed a lawsuit against the Affordable Care Act because of its regulations forcing them to violate their religious beliefs, is finding a broad base of support for their suit.
“Where else do you see Catholics, evangelicals, Mormons, Muslims, Hindus and Jews coming together?” Lori Windham, senior counsel for the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty asked. “Religious freedom is important to Americans of all faiths, and we hope the Supreme Court will protect that freedom.”
The owner of Hobby Lobby, David Green, said that his chain would close rather than have the Obama Administration force their beliefs on his family and company.
Hobby Lobby has openly operated through Christian principles since its founding in 1972. The store closes on Sundays, donates more than 10% to charity and pays its employees more than the minimum wage.
The Affordable Care Act forces employers to provide abortion-causing drugs to their employees which Christian business owners say violates their religious freedom.
