Friends, I have always been proud and supportive of my denomination as one that focused on the Gospel and did not soil itself with the politics of this earthly kingdom. Now, I am saddened at not only President Harrison’s stance but that it is leading too many Lutherans away from the Gospel and toward a narrow-minded, right-wing activism and siding with Christians that many of these Lutherans would not have fellowship with in many other public arenas.

The findings of this Supreme Court were expected, there was no suspense. What we need to recognize is that while the corporation’s owners are Christian, the corporation is not. We also need to recognize that this corporation’s owners, while insisting on restricting birth control in a most Christian way for the sake of not committing sin or supporting their employees’ sins, turn a blind eye to supporting abortion and forced state control of reproduction for the sake of profit. How? By making any purchase from China’s manufacturers. Shop for yourself and look at the labels.

There it is the glory of global capitalism is that we are all complicit in the sins of others because we fund the sins of others through commerce. Our purchases pay wages to neighbors who have abortions. We buy health insurance from major providers, on our own and through employers – those premiums all go into one pot and fund abortions. Some of the money we spend on gasoline, the funds that hit the global oil market finds its way to ISIS and Al Quaeda. Because of globalism, we cannot separate ourselves from the sins of our fellows, blood is on all our hands.

What greater evidence could there be for our deplorable condition under Original Sin? That we turn a blind eye to our complicity because it is out of our control. We are doing our best, supporting our families, so don’t remind us that these good things are tainted. Worse, we do not lay our loss of control on God or put it into His hands. Too often, we praise the economic system and society which gives us this blood-soaked abundance and offers no alternative.

Further, we have opened the door to allowing, not religious freedom, but religious bigotry to enter in and compound our guilt. We need to accept that many of our brothers and sisters are not in our denomination and many whom God wishes us to reach are not living according to God’s word. We are also in a world where we live among non-Christians and must extend to them the very same loving kindness that we would to our fellows. Should we, instead of living a Christian life among them, isolate ourselves or send them to be part of a concentration of like-minded non-Christians? Is that evangelism? Is that reaching out to all God’s children, making disciples of all nations?

Hobby Lobby has already supported efforts toward such bigotry through the ADF (especially Arizona SB 1062). When Christians come together, it needs to be in loving service to mankind. We are commanded to minister to body and soul. This does not mean soft-peddling the truth, but it does mean reaching out with love, not with a right to exclude, avoid, or shun. These are marks of anabaptism, New World fundamentalism, and cults – they are not marks of the true, Christian faith we profess.

Our ministry is to turn hearts toward Christ's work of salvation, the greatest expression of God's love for us. Our desire is that no one seeks abortion, not through fear of reprisal or for lack of means, but through true allegiance to God’s gift of life and confessing that our bodies are not our own – we belong to our Creator to act as He wills, not as we will. None of this is accomplished through this court decision or through support of Hobby Lobby. The fight against abortion is about bringing people to Christ and ministering to them, body and soul, as Christ commands. We can do that both directly as individuals, as the Church, and, in this country, through our governance. How much more would we profit those contemplating surgery and abortifacients through love and action than through the courts and causes of the militant religious right?