In a 2017 civil settlement, Hobby Lobby consented to forfeit thousands of ancient artifacts and pay $3 million after the government alleged Iraqi antiquities had been imported with false shipping information and without required customs paperwork. The company accepted responsibility, agreed to compliance measures, and the United States returned about 3,800 artifacts to Iraq in 2018.
After a review of the items and their documentation, ICE Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Special Agents, in conjunction with Assistant U.S. Attorneys at United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York (EDNY) conducted interviews of a number of Hobby Lobby employees between January and June of 2016 which led to the discovery of a deliberate intent by employees of the company to avoid using a customs broker for the artifacts related to this transaction.
Hobby Lobby, the national arts-and-crafts supply chain, illegally imported thousands of ancient relics from the Middle East, according to the Justice Department. The family-owned, Evangelical Christian company must now turn over rare clay tablets and artifacts that likely once came…
In July 2010, Hobby Lobby’s president and a consultant traveled to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to inspect a large number of cuneiform tablets and other antiquities being offered for sale. Following this trip, an expert on cultural property law warned Hobby Lobby that cuneiform tablets and cylinder seals were particularly likely to have been looted from Iraqi archaeological sites. Hobby Lobby proceeded to purchase a set of 5,548 artifacts in late 2010. Two-thirds of these artifacts were shipped in 2010 and 2011 by foreign antiquities dealers who made false statements on shipping labels, failed to file formal entry papers with U.S. Customs and Border Protection, and supplied fabricated provenances and sham invoices.
A federal court settlement that requires Hobby Lobby Stores to pay a $3 million fine for illegally importing thousands of ancient Iraqi artifacts is casting a cloud over the much-anticipated Museum of the Bible associated with the store’s owners just as the museum prepares to open near the Mall.
With Hobby Lobby’s consent, a UAE-based dealer shipped packages containing the Artifacts to three different corporate addresses in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Between one and three shipments arrived at a time, without the required customs entry documentation being filed with CBP, and bore shipping labels that falsely and misleadingly described their contents as “ceramic tiles” or “clay tiles (sample).” After approximately 10 packages shipped in this manner were received by Hobby Lobby and its affiliates, CBP intercepted five shipments. All of the intercepted packages bore shipping labels that falsely declared that the Artifacts’ country of origin was Turkey. No further shipments were received until September 2011, when a package containing approximately 1,000 clay bullae from the same purchase was received by Hobby Lobby. It was shipped by an Israeli dealer and accompanied by a false declaration stating that the bullae’s country of origin was Israel.
Salon reported in 2014 that Hobby Lobby-related entities, including CFO Jon Cargill and affiliate Crafts Etc., were major donors to the National Christian Charitable Foundation, which funded groups involved in religious-liberty and social-policy advocacy. The exact use of the contributions was unclear; Hobby Lobby did not respond to Salon’s requests for comment.
But a document published here for the first time reveals Hobby Lobby appears to be going much further than protecting freedom, providing funding for a group that backs a political network of activist groups deeply engaged in pushing a Christian agenda into American law. The document shows entities related to the company to be two of the largest donors to the organization funding a right-wing Christian agenda, investing tens, if not hundreds, of millions of dollars into a vast network of organizations working in concert to advance an agenda that would allow businesses to discriminate against gays and lesbians and deny their employees contraceptives under a maximalist interpretation of the Free Exercise Clause of the United States Constitution.
Hobby Lobby-related entities are some of the biggest sources of funding to the National Christian Charitable Foundation, which backed groups that collaborated in promoting the anti-gay legislation in Arizona – recently vetoed by Gov. Jan Brewer – that critics say would have legalized discrimination against gays and lesbians by businesses.
The Oklahoman reported in October 2024 that Hobby Lobby founder David Green partly funds the Servant Foundation, which donated to the Conservative Partnership Institute and election-related groups. Hobby Lobby said foundation leaders decide how funds are spent, and that neither the company nor Green knew of or directed support to the institute.
Oklahoman and Hobby Lobby founder David Green is one of a few billionaires whose donations have gone toward organizations dedicated to election integrity going into the 2024 presidential election, according to an analysis by the Wall Street Journal.
Snopes reported that the Servant Foundation gave $300,000 to Them Before Us in the fiscal year ending March 2024 and $25,000 in the year ending March 2025; the group launched a campaign to overturn Obergefell. Green has ties to the foundation, but Snopes found no primary evidence that he, his family or Hobby Lobby made those donations. Another report alleged founder funding.
Snopes verified that The Servant Foundation, an organization Green has ties to, donated to Faust's effort to end same-sex marriage ($300,000 in the fiscal year ending March 2024 and $25,000 in the fiscal year ending March 2025). The Servant Foundation has a history of donating to anti-LGBTQ+ causes: It also donated to the Alliance Defending Freedom, an organization the Southern Poverty Law Center has designated as an anti-LGBTQ+ hate group.
LGBTQNation reports that conservatives announced a new campaign in January to end marriage rights for same-sex couples, and it turns out it’s getting money from Hoby Lobby’s founder.
In November 2023, customers criticized Hobby Lobby for stocking Christmas merchandise but not Hanukkah decorations. The company said it had stopped carrying them because of low demand and that sister company Mardel stocked them. Earlier complaints included a reported employee remark in 2013; Hobby Lobby apologized, denied discrimination and said it would test Jewish holiday items in some stores.
Hobby Lobby has said that it has not stocked Hanukkah decorations for several years due to low customer demand, and that its sister company, Mardel, stocks such items.
Hobby Lobby says it’s just trying to protect its religious freedom. The family-founded and -run company is closed on Sundays, has an employee manual that includes biblical references, and announces on its website its commitment to “Honoring the Lord in all we do by operating the company in a manner consistent with biblical principles.” The company got in hot water last year when an employee told a blogger that no Hanukkah decorations were stocked “[b]ecause Mr. Green is the owner of the company, he’s a Christian, and those are his values.”
The owner of the Hobby Lobby craft store chain, under fire because his stores did not carry Hanukkah merchandise and because of a reported employee’s remark that offended many Jews, has apologized and announced that some stores will begin to carry Jewish holiday items. In back-to-back statements Oct. 3 and 4, company president Steve Green said Hobby Lobby is sorry for comments “that may have offended anyone, especially our Jewish customers and friends,” and that it will carry Jewish-themed items in New York and New Jersey by early November “to test the market.”…Some…wondered whether Green’s conservative Christianity translated into a disregard for Jewish customers. Suspicions heightened this week after a report that a Hobby Lobby employee in the company’s Marlboro, N.J., store responded “we don’t cater to you people,” when asked if the store carried bar mitzvah cards...
Crafting chain owned by devout Evangelical Christian family says sorry for employee comments that may have offended Jewish customers, but makes no promise to stock Hanukkah items
The Oklahoma City-based corporation, which boasts over 500 stores throughout the United States stocking craft supplies and other bric-a-brac, was accused of anti-Semitism by political blogger Ken Berwitz, who posted that neighbors were reporting that a New Jersey branch of Hobby Lobby didn’t have any Hanukkah or Jewish-themed merchandise for sale. Berwitz said that the chain’s corporate offices told him that they would not stock Jewish-themed merchandise “because Mr. Green is the owner of the company, he’s a Christian and those are his values.”
WASHINGTON — Under a barrage of criticism, crafting superstore giant Hobby Lobby caved over what a political blogger alleged is anti-Semitism in its merchandising policies. Or, rather, it partially caved.
The publication reported on August 16, 2021, that Hobby Lobby lost an appeal in a transgender employee’s discrimination case after a decade-long legal battle. It described the decision as precedent-setting; the supplied excerpt does not identify the employee, court or specific outcome.
Hobby Lobby Loses Decade-Long Battle to Discriminate Against Trans Employees
A 2022 article placed Hobby Lobby 15th on its list of conservative companies, reporting that 64.2% of its 2022-cycle political donations went to Republican congressional candidates. A 2014 report described Christian giving by the Green family, including David Green’s 2007 pledge of $70 million to Oral Roberts University.
Hobby Lobby Stores is an American arts and crafts retailer. The company has 969 stores across 47 states in the US. Hobby Lobby Stores was founded by David Green, who is one of the largest donors to evangelical causes in America. The company also incorporates these values in the workplace. In 2022, Hobby Lobby Stores committed 64.20% of its political donations to the Republican congressional candidates.
Outside of the Supreme Court case, little has been reported about Hobby Lobby’s political ties. The company is owned privately by the Green family and generates more than $3 billion per year in revenue from its 602 stores. The family proudly promotes its philanthropy to churches, ministries and Christian community centers, dedicating half of the company’s pretax earnings to Christian ministries. In 2007, Hobby Lobby’s founder and CEO, billionaire David Green, pledged $70 million to Oral Roberts University, bailing out the debt-ridden evangelical university. In 2012, Forbes reported, “Hobby Lobby’s cash spigot currently makes [Green] the largest individual donor to evangelical causes in America.”
OSHA’s record lists a citation issued to Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc. on October 17, 2024, under its work-connected fatality and injury reporting standard. The citation covered one instance and 28 employees exposed; the listed initial and current penalty was $5,000. The record does not show a contest date or final order.
Standard Cited: 342(A) (18B-CA) Work-Connected Fatality/Injury Reporting
In a July 15, 2025 report, The Mary Sue described a TikTok by customer Tobias Williams alleging that a line of animal paintings in Hobby Lobby’s arts section was created by AI. The report said Hobby Lobby did not respond to an inquiry; it did not establish how the images were made.
There have been rumors circulating online for months that Hobby Lobby is using AI to create art. Hobby Lobby didn’t respond to an inquiry sent via the contact form on its website Monday afternoon.
An OpenSecrets recipient profile lists contributions associated with Hobby Lobby Stores, including $7,673 to Republicans (77.53%), $2,093 to Democrats (21.14%) and $131 to others (1.32%). It reports that all $9,957 came from individuals, with none from PACs; the source excerpt provides no cycle dates.
In October 2019, shopper Leslie Ruffing criticized two gun-themed decorations at a Hobby Lobby in Aurora, Illinois, saying they glorified and encouraged gun violence; she reported her complaint to a store manager. Hobby Lobby did not respond to the outlet’s comment requests. A gun-rights advocate called the complaint silly and described the signs as humorous.
Hobby Lobby, the arts-and-crafts giant whose evangelical Christian owners won a landmark religious-freedom ruling in U.S. Supreme Court several years back, is now under fire for selling signs that a customer alleges "glorify and encourage gun violence," with some calling for a boycott of the chain.
A 2013 Times of Israel account said Hobby Lobby founder David Green paid employees a living wage above minimum wage, closed early so employees could spend time with family, and shut stores on Sundays for the Sabbath. It also noted Christian art supplies were available at all of the company’s more than 500 branches.
He pays employees a ‘”living wage” that is significantly above minimum wage, closes shop early so that employees can spend time with their families, and keeps his stores shut on Sunday to mark the Sabbath. Christian art supplies can be found in all of the over-500 branches.
In 2009, Hobby Lobby founder David Green’s son Mart Green produced and funded “Little Town of Bethlehem,” a film about the West Bank and Palestinian resistance. The Times of Israel said the film drew parallels with Martin Luther King’s peaceful movements and was advised by Holy Land Trust, which supports BDS and academic boycotts of Israel.
He is not the only member of the family engaged in activism. In 2009, his son Mart Green produced and funded “Little Town of Bethlehem”, a film that claims to analyze the situation in the West Bank city revered by Christians as the place of Jesus’s birth.
The EEOC alleged Hobby Lobby fired a part-time Olathe, Kansas, clerk after refusing her request to work with her service dog, despite medical documentation. Under a three-year consent decree settling the suit, the company will pay her $50,000, revise accommodation policies, train employees and report periodically to the EEOC.
According to the EEOC’s lawsuit, Hobby Lobby violated the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) when it failed to allow a part-time clerk at its Olathe, Kansas store to use her service dog on the job as a reasonable accommodation for her disabilities, including anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The part-time clerk performed cashier duties and assisted in the seasonal, home accents, and floral departments, including stocking shelves and unloading and stocking merchandise on “truck day.” When the clerk sought permission to bring her service dog to the store, the manager asked her to provide medical documentation to support her request, which she did, and she also provided information at the request of corporate human resources. The company’s district manager and human resources decided, without any supporting evidence, the dog would present a safety issue, even though customers were permitted to bring service and pet dogs to the store. Hobby Lobby ultimately fired the clerk when she advised the company she could not work without her service dog.
OpenSecrets lists $11,400 in 2022-cycle contributions associated with David Green & Sons, all from individuals and none from the organization itself. The listed funds went to candidates, a 527 group and party committees. OpenSecrets reports no federal lobbying or outside spending for the cycle.
A federal jury found Hobby Lobby discriminated against Charles “Chip” George, a Jefferson Parish man with an intellectual disability, after a 2023 store incident. It rejected his separate accommodation claim and reduced damages from about $450,000 to $10,000. His lawyer said he would seek employee training and an end to George’s store ban.
When a new store manager, Heather Ford, spotted George asking one of her customer service managers to add up the amount for his order, she told him the store was too busy and he’d have to come back later. George began shouting obscenities and Ford told him to leave.
The California Air Resources Board said Hobby Lobby settled violations in October 2018 after a product it distributed and sold failed aerosol-coating labeling and reactivity requirements, releasing 0.41 tons of excess ozone. Hobby Lobby paid $4,920, recalled noncompliant products from California stores and said it would carry compliant products going forward; the agency reported it was compliant.
In October 2018, Hobby Lobby of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, settled violations of the Aerosol Coating Products Regulation for $4,920 and is now compliant. During a routine inspection at a Hobby Lobby located in California, a California Air Resources Board inspector obtained a sample of Dried Floral Preservative, an aerosol floral coating manufactured by Gemini Industries and distributed solely by Hobby Lobby.