Hobby Lobby's New Hobby: Smuggling Artifacts
The arts and crafts retail business behind Burwell v. Hobby Lobby, the infamous Supreme Court case which allowed private companies to leave out contraception from their employees' insurance coverage on religious grounds, has become embroiled in another controversy: smuggling ancient artifacts from war-torn Iraq.
On Wednesday, July 5th, 2017, the U.S. attorney's office in Brooklyn, NY filed a complaint against the owners of Hobby Lobby, alleging that the Oklahoma-based art supplies business had illegally purchased 5,500 ancient cuneiform tablets and clay bullae from Iraq. The items were shipped to Hobby Lobby stores in Oklahoma and two corporate branches by way of the United Arab Emirates and Israel, where they were packaged in containers falsely describing the contents as tile samples.
According to the complaint, Hobby Lobby began a collection of artifacts from the Fertile Crescent--a particularly moist and arid area of the Middle East where many early civilizations thrived--since as early as in or around 2009, and continued to amass thousands-years-old artifacts that are biblically significant for years. Even after a legal expert on retainer advised the company to stop the shopping spree of ancient tablets and manuscripts in October 2010, mainly because they may have been stolen from historical sites, Hobby Lobby still didn't listen.
In responding to the PR disaster, Hobby Lobby’s president Steve Green said that the collection was to be displayed in various museums and public institutions. Though unconfirmed, it is believed that the artifacts were to be displayed in the Hobby Lobby-funded Bible museum, which is scheduled to open in Washington, DC in November 2017.
Online, people made made comments and jokes about the story, claiming that purchasing the artifacts from Iraq may be supporting ISIS, who has a black market to sell ancient Iraq artifacts.
To recap: The billionaire founder of Hobby Lobby may be funding ISIS by buying religious artifacts on the black market https://t.co/I54jpyl6hx
— Mathew Ingram (@mathewi) July 5, 2017
Hobby Lobby smuggling ancient Iraqi artifacts into the US: pic.twitter.com/7YhIXPQrmx
— Julia Reinstein (@juliareinstein) July 5, 2017
While we've been babbling on Twitter, the Hobby Lobby CEO is busy solving some Dan Brown novel stuff with ancient tablets.
— Max Burns (@themaxburns) July 5, 2017
Hobby Lobby looting Iraq was not a story I was expecting but then again this is 2017.
— Gabe Ortíz (@TUSK81) July 5, 2017
Prosecutors filed the complaint with a settlement stipulation, requiring Hobby Lobby to return the artifacts as well as pay an additional $3 million.
Unlike their previous battle in the Supreme Court, Hobby Lobby representatives swiftly agreed to the settlement with theU.S. Attorney's Office, forfeiting thousands of artifacts it had acquired from modern-day Iraq and accepting a $3 million fine issued by the Justice Department.
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BrentD15
Seeing stuff like this makes me sad to be a Christian.
Kenaron
Not wanting to pay for women's contraception because they don't want blood on their hands, yet funding Isis. It sure sucks to be thrown in the same tent as people like that.
BrentD15
Well, I've always held these zealots in low regard.
WELLLLMYNAMEISJOP
Personally, all I care is whether or not they are damaged.
Paulie DeMafia Mk2
This kind of goofy shit sounds more like a Payday heist, not real life.
The Necromancer Of Memes
"Alright, gang. We're hitting the Iraqi Natonal Gallery for The Elephant. There's a set of priceless cuneiform tablets in the gallery that we're gonna steal. The Elephant has a contact in the states that's gonna buy them. Be careful though, because the area is still under heavy US coalition occupation. That means no alarms. We don't want to fight with the military. Let's go to work, folks."
Dralemeres
And then you always have that ONE GUY that switches to heavy armor, grabs the shotgun, and puts his mask on immediately.
Dralemeres
Wait, the article notes that the items have 'biblical significance'?
Is this some weird religious thing? It fits with the previous battle of birth control, but still, this seems stupid if that is the angle…..
WELLLLMYNAMEISJOP
Maybe it's a thing with the Book of Esther, which was said to be also written in King Xerxes' annals.
Dralemeres
looked it up- yeah, probably crazy religious thing.
hobby lobby has a bible museum (a strangely large one?). soooooo… yeag. that happened.
WELLLLMYNAMEISJOP
Tbh though, what was written in them? In hindsight, it could do something with even Genesis.
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james_w
they better have used a 40% off coupon
BraveSirJimOfLawl
Better to be smuggled into the US than destroyed in Iraq
Dralemeres
yeah, but they could have smuggled them to a museum….
iotacom
Dralemeres
found out- it did go to a museum.
…one that is basically the personal bible collection of the family that owns hobby lobby.
So I am feel fairly confident in not counting that- I am kind of doubt there is serious archaeology going on there, and more just strange hording and showing off.
Xellos
Supporting ISIS? Considering the track record ISIS has with historical artefacts (Caliph Omar and the Alexandrian library), buying them would still serve to save as much as possible.
WezliGiantsbane333
Let ancient artifacts get destroyed, or fund international terrorism to save ancient artifacts…
Kenaron
Relevant part starts about a minute in.
Orange Circle
Return the artifacts? So ISIS can sell them again?
GrayVBoat
Or destroy them.
AliC202
Man this is a really weird one.
Although in context is makes semi-sense. It's kinda surprisingly, but also not, how many well established American businesses are ultra-Christian.
(((Richard Cheese; 妹妹 Master)))
What the fuck were they doing with the stuff anyway? Protecting it from ISIS? I mean, if that were the case they could just do what the british did and put it all in a museum full of other stolen stuff.
(((Richard Cheese; 妹妹 Master)))
Also, it's a kind of shitty situation when your only options as an artifact are either get stolen from the original cultures and put in a museum or get blown the fuck up by psychos.