More Hobby Lobby Store Hypocrisy: Investigation finds close ties to creepy resigned Southern minister sex molester

This just gets creepier and creepier.

In light of these recent revelations, perhaps the SCOTUS might want to vacate their decision.

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https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2014/07/hobby-lobby-bill-gothard-institute-basic-life-principles/

Hobby Lobby Funded Disgraced Fundamentalist Christian Leader Accused of Harassing Dozens of Women

By David Corn and Molly Redden | Wed Jul. 2, 2014 6:00 AM EDT

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Hobby Lobby funded disgraced fundamentalist Christian leader accused of harassing dozens of women

For a decade or so, Hobby Lobby and its owners, the Green family, have been generous benefactors of a Christian ministry that until recently was run by Bill Gothard, a controversial religious leader who has long promoted a strict and authoritarian version of Christianity. Gothard, a prominent champion of Christian home-schooling, has decried [1] the evils of dating, rock music, and Cabbage Patch dolls [2]; claimed [3] public education teaches children “how to commit suicide” and undermines spirituality; contended [4] that mental illness is merely “varying degrees of irresponsibility”; and urged wives to “submit to the leadership” [5] of their husbands. Critics of Gothard have associated [6] him [7] with Christian Reconstructionism [8], an ultrafundamentalist movement that yearns for a theocracy, and accused [9] him of running a cultlike organization. In March, he was pressured to resign [1] from his ministry, the Institute in Basic Life Principles, after being accused by more than 30 women of sexual harassment and molestation—a charge Gothard denies.

More MoJo coverage of the Supreme Court’s Hobby Lobby decision.

• Hobby Lobby’s Hypocrisy: The Company’s Retirement Plan Invests in Contraception Manufacturers [10]

• The 8 Best Lines From Ginsburg’s Dissent [11]

• Why the Decision Is the New Bush v. Gore [12]

• How Obama Can Make Sure Hobby Lobby’s Female Employees Are Covered [13]

• Hobby Lobby Funded Disgraced Fundamentalist Christian Leader Accused of Harassing Dozens of Women [14]

The Institute traces it origins to 1964, when Gothard designed a college seminar based on biblical principles to help teenagers. The ministry says [15] it was established “for the purpose of introducing people to the Lord Jesus Christ” and to give individuals, families, businesses, and governments “clear instruction and training on how to find success by following God’s principles found in Scripture.” The group, which operates what it calls “training centers” across the United States and abroad, says more than 2.5 million people have attended its paid events, which have brought in tens of millions of dollars in revenue. Gothard and the Institute have drawn support [16]from conservative politicians, including Mike Huckabee, Sarah Palin, and former Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue. The Duggar family, the stars of the reality show 19 Kids and Counting, have been high-profile advocates [17] of Gothard’s home-schooling curriculum and seminars. (One of Gothard’s alleged victims has called [18] on the Duggars to break with Gothard and the Institute.) Don Venoit, a conservative evangelical who has long been a critic of Gothard, contends [19] that Gothard’s approach to Christian theology emphasizing obedience to authority creates a “culture of fear.” In 1984, Ronald Allen, now a professor of Bible exposition at Dallas Theological Seminary, observed [20] that Gothard’s teachings were “a parody of patriarchalism” and “the basest form of male chauvinism I have ever heard in a Christian context.” He added, “Gothard has lost the biblical balance of the relationship between women and men as equals in relationship. His view is basically anti-woman.”

According to the 79-year-old Gothard, the Greens and Hobby Lobby—which this week won a landmark Supreme Court case [21] with a decision ruling that the firm does not have to

Hobby Lobby Hypocrisy: Investment in Contraception Manufacturers

Hobby Lobby Hypocrisy: The Company’s Retirement Plan Invests in Contraception Manufacturers

When Hobby Lobby filed its case against Obamacare’s contraception mandate, its retirement plan had more than $73 million invested in funds with stakes in contraception makers.
—Molly Redden on Tue. April 1, 2014 6:00 AM PDT

Hobby Lobby supporters pray to end abortion outside the US Supreme Court. Jay Mallin/ZUMA

When Obamacare compelled businesses to include emergency contraception in employee health care plans, Hobby Lobby, a national chain of craft stores, fought the law all the way to the Supreme Court. The Affordable Care Act’s contraception mandate, the company’s owners argued, forced them to violate their religious beliefs. But while it was suing the government, Hobby Lobby spent millions of dollars on an employee retirement plan that invested in the manufacturers of the same contraceptive products the firm’s owners cite in their lawsuit.

Documents filed with the Department of Labor and dated December 2012—three months after the company’s owners filed their lawsuit—show that the Hobby Lobby 401(k) employee retirement plan held more than $73 million in mutual funds with investments in companies that produce emergency contraceptive pills, intrauterine devices, and drugs commonly used in abortions. Hobby Lobby makes large matching contributions to this company-sponsored 401(k).

Several of the mutual funds in Hobby Lobby’s retirement plan have stock holdings in companies that manufacture the specific drugs and devices that the Green family, which owns Hobby Lobby, is fighting to keep out of Hobby Lobby’s health care policies: the emergency contraceptive pills Plan B and Ella, and copper and hormonal intrauterine devices.

These companies include Teva Pharmaceutical Industries, which makes Plan B and ParaGard, a copper IUD, and Actavis, which makes a generic version of Plan B and distributes Ella. Other stock holdings