Hobby Lobby: Jews and Other Non-Christians Not Welcome Here

Hobby Lobby is a national chain of craft stores owned by billionaire Steve Green. Hobby Lobby refuses to carry any merchandise - Hanukkah, Passover, Deepavali, Kwanza, or Goth - that caters to a non-Christian clientele.

Green owns more than 550 Hobby Lobby craft stores nationwide, all of which close on Sunday. He is also known for his lawsuit against the Affordable Healthcare Act (aka ObamaCare), which he claims tramples on his religious liberty by forcing him to insure employees for medical services (such as contraception) that Green deems objectionable on religious grounds.

The Hobby Lobby controversy began when Ken Berwitz, who resides in Marlboro NJ, learned that his local Hobby Lobby store stocks Christmas items but nothing related to Hanukkah or Passover. According to Berwitz, a Hobby Lobby salesperson said: “We don’t cater to you people.”

This experience prompted Berwitz, who writes the Hopelessly Partisan blog, to ask his local Marlboro store why it supported Christmas but not Hanukkah. In response, Berwitz received this reply: “Because Mr. Green is the owner of the company, he’s a Christian, and those are his values.”

Here is how Ken Berwitz replied on his blog:

I have a great many Christian friends and acquaintances. And I can honestly say that I don't know even one who would ever see excluding Jews as having anything to do with Christian "values". But, evidently, Hobby Lobby owner [Steve] Green does. 

Well, here are MY values. I will never set foot in a Hobby Lobby. Ever. I will be sure to tell everyone I know the reason why, with a request that they pass it along to others …  Had they said this about Christians and had it been the other way around I would be just as annoyed. Shame on him. 

Of course, any retailer has the right to stock any merchandise and cater to any clientele it wants – discounting for bad manners and bad PR. Similarly, any excluded group that feels offended has the right to boycott.  In the hyper-opinionated blather of Cyberspace, one gripe always propagates another:

“Political correctness will destroy America,” writes Amber Wright, joining in the conversation. “Political correctness is forcing us to include an ideology like Islam alongside of Judaism and Catholicism or Christianity - it is nothing like those religions and should not be afforded the same considerations and protections.”

How magnanimous of Amber to include Christianity and Judaism but not Islam, a religion practiced by 1.1 billion people worldwide and 2.6 million people in America. Every school kid knows what Amber doesn't know: Freedom to worship is a fundamental human right protected by the U.S. Constitution. Will political correctness destroy America?  Funny how some folks invoke this term to spout bias and stupidity and then indemnify themselves against criticism:

Dear Amber,
Please note: Political correctness is also a form of free speech protected by the Constitution. Political correctness may or may not destroy America; but bigotry, hatred, intolerance, and oppression assuredly will.