Happy New Year to you as well khalling and thanks for the compliment.

I find the concept of "Christian" companies a misnomer. A company cannot be Christian as Christianity is an individual choice and responsibility. Now, I fully understand that there are companies that seek to operate in a manner that collectively acts in a manner that an individual Christian, or even a church, is supposed to act, but a company isn't under the laws of Christ as individual Christian's are.

Frankly, I don't see much difference between companies paying for this area of insurance coverage and sending in tax money which is funneled to institutions as Planned Parenthood which directly funds abortions, which many companies would, in their collective leadership, denounce and withdraw funding emphatically.

There are a lot of Christian's with a problem concerning contraceptives; however, I cannot find Biblical justification for such a position. Contraceptives can be used legitimately and illegitimately, from the Christian viewpoint. I recognize that for those who are not Christian, then the words "legitimate" and "illegitimate" don't come into play as it is an amoral issue.

At the end of it all, I think that many "Christian" companies have put up already with much worse than contraception and should have raised red flags and lobbied the government long ago. For instance, taxes for the unemployed, EEOC regulations, etc....

Wait...isn't the problem that they are a Christian company?

All sarcasm aside, if you take the whole "shrugging" concept to its conclusion, you really end up with a government funding itself through central bankers (since no one will be around to pay taxes either personally or corporately) and those it seeks to be served by. It will play out that, just as in AS Mr. Galt was tortured, the government will send the military/CIA/FBI, etc... to route these "shruggers" and eliminate them since we will assume they won't play by the government rules (e.g. won't be persuaded to work for the government either through bribery or extortion). I can see some will argue that those who "shrug" will go far enough away to prevent governmental retaliation; however, that will only last so long.

What are you left with then? You have the puppet masters and the serfs, purchased through gov't welfare programs taken to the extreme and no longer know or care for taking responsibility for themselves...they will do as they are told.

I am not sure how long the fiat money concept will continue to support a government and its serfs, but the Bible addresses such a situation, unlike any other "religion" does.

Ok, so how does this relate to the topic at hand, Hobby Lobby, frankly, shouldn't "shrug," in my humble opinion. I think that if Hobby Lobby believes as a company is it being asked to do something which is against the Constitution, then it just shouldn't do it (that is provide the coverage). The government will do one of two things: a) use force through various and multifaceted means to bring Hobby Lobby into compliance; b) leave them alone, but not until they have sought to use much intimidation. I agree that Hobby Lobby shouldn't use the legal system to fight this...it would be futile.

A company is made of men and when man is asked to do something that is fundamentally against his core beliefs, or clearly is against the stated laws of the land, he has a duty, not a choice, to be noncompliant, else, he is no different than the serfs.

Just further food for thought...