Home
/
RELIGION & LIBERTY ONLINE
/
#PrayForHobbyLobby: Intercession on Religious Liberty and the Supreme Court
#PrayForHobbyLobby: Intercession on Religious Liberty and the Supreme Court
Dec 31, 2025 8:19 PM

On Tuesday at 10:00 a.m. ET, the Supreme Court will hear oral arguments on Sebelius v. Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc. and Conestoga Wood Specialties Corp. v. Sebelius, both of which will have a profound impact on the future of religious liberty and freedom of conscience in America.

Thus,Hobby Lobby supporters across the country have been invited to offer their prayers in support of pany, and I encourage you to participate.You can help spread the word by changing the avatar on your social media accounts and posting with the hashtag #PrayForHobbyLobby. Although the Court will be hearing arguments tomorrow, I would encourage us to begin our intercession today.

Russell Moore of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission explains:

The government is telling the Hobby Lobby owners, the Green family, that their free exercise rights aren’t relevant because they run a corporation. They’re telling these Anabaptist woodworkers and the Catholic Little Sisters of the Poor and ministries of all sorts all over the country that what’s at stake is just the signing of some papers, the payment of some money.

Our government has treated free exercise of religion as though it were a tattered house standing in the way of a government construction of a railroad; there to be bought off or plowed out of the way, in the name of progress …

…We cannot accept the theology lesson the government has sought to teach us, that religion is simply a matter of what happens during the scheduled times of our services, and is left there in the foyer during the rest of the week.

I wrote last week that Hobby Lobby is ina fiery furnace of sorts. Let us pray that, in this pressing hour a Fourth Man stands close by, offering peace and protection according to a different system altogether. For the future of religious liberty and the free society, yes, but also for the further empowerment of our God-given callings, vocations, and activities in business, the family, the church, and beyond.

The ERLC providesthis helpful guide to help guide and focus our prayers:

God wants people to be free to seek him and to serve him (Acts 17:24-28).Pray for a favorable e. The cherished principle of religious freedom should receive the strongest constitutional protection it deserves.God is Lord of the conscience, not government (Acts 5:29).Pray that the justices of the Supreme Court will understand the importance of the separation of the state from the church.God can give understanding to make sound decisions (Prov.2:6-8).Pray for those who disagree with us, that God would help them understand and respect the consciences of people of faith.God can turn the hearts and minds of the justices to do his will (Prov.21:1).Pray for the Supreme Court justices, that they would be receptive to the arguments being made passionately before them.God can guide the mind and speech (Exod.4:11-12).Pray for lead attorney, Paul Clement, who will be arguing on behalf of Hobby Lobby and Conestoga Wood. Ask God to give him clarity and wisdom, for his arguments to be persuasiveness, and for God to give him favor before the justices.

For more background on the case and its reach and implications, check out the mentary posted here on the blog:

Explainer: The Hobby Lobby Amicus BriefsHobby Lobby Owners Speak Out on HHS Mandate‘Little Victims Of The State:’ Steam-Rolling Religious Liberty In AmericaHHS Mandate: Does This Sound Like Freedom?HHS Mandate: Hobby Lobby Explains Its StanceFaith On The Line: Catholic Businessman Battles HHS MandateReligious Liberty and Business as Culture-MakingHobby Lobby in the Fiery FurnaceNotre Dame To Comply With HHS MandateGov. Jindal: The Silent War on Religious LibertyEconomic Martyrdom and the Great Irony of ProgressivismWhat Does Religious Liberty Stand Upon?Do We Need To ‘Check Our Faith At The Door?’

[product sku=”1032″]

Comments
Welcome to mreligion comments! Please keep conversations courteous and on-topic. To fosterproductive and respectful conversations, you may see comments from our Community Managers.
Sign up to post
Sort by
Show More Comments
RELIGION & LIBERTY ONLINE
Free Acton Institute eBooks on Judaism, Law and the Market Economy (May 20-24)
Beginning today, the conference “Religion and Liberty — A Match Made in Heaven?” gets underway in Jerusalem. Sponsored by the Jerusalem Institute for Market Studies (JIMS), the Acton Institute and others, the event asks questions such as, “Is capitalism not only efficient but also moral?” In conjunction with this May 20-24 conference, Acton is offering its two Jewish monographs through Amazon Kindle at no charge. The two titles: Judaism, Law & The Free Market: An Analysis by Joseph Lifshitz. [Kindle...
Faith and Science In a Fallen World
Reading as many blogs as I do, I’m always grateful when I stumble on a great blog post that is not only thoughtful, but relates to some aspect of our work here at Acton. Jason Summers over at Q Ideas has written an interesting piece titled Where Angels Cannot Tread: Science in a Fallen World. In his discussion of science, he notes humanity is uniquely equipped by God to engage with science. I believe that we Christians especially should listen...
That the Name of God Should Be Forgotten
The Russian Orthodox naval cathedral in Kronstadt, reconsecrated in April From Interfax: Moscow, May 15 — On Tuesday, there will be 80 years since the Soviet government issued a decree on “atheistic five-year plan.” Stalin set a goal: the name of God should be forgotten on the territory of the whole country to May 1, 1937, the article posted by the Foma website says. Over 5 million militant atheists were living in the country then. Anti-religious universities — special educational...
Louisiana’s Valuable Commodity: Prisoners
Why is Louisiana the world’s prison capital? Are the residents of the Bayou State more criminal than other people around the world? Is the state’s law enforcement exceptionally skilled at catching bad guys? Or could the inflated prison population be, at least in part, the result of theperverse economic incentives of crony capitalism? The hidden engine behind the state’s well-oiled prison machine is cold, hard cash. A majority of Louisiana inmates are housed in for-profit facilities, which must be supplied...
Defending the Free Market review: More than Mere Economics
On his Koinonia blog, Rev. Gregory Jensen reviews Rev. Robert Sirico’s new book, Defending the Free Market: The Moral Case for a Free Economy. Jensen: “Daring though the argument is, especially for a Catholic priest, it is also essential that it be made since for too many people (including business people), free market economic theory and policies are little more than a justification for greed. While not denying the excesses of capitalism and real sins of capitalists, Fr Sirico wisely...
If Christ is Lord, Everything Matters
Recently we had an excellent discussion on twitter about the following idea that @JakeBishop8 shared: “Our greatest fear should not be of failure but of succeeding at things in life that don’t really matter.” In response to this idea we retweeted, another Jake (@JakeBelder) jumped in with: “If Christ is Lord over all, is it right to say there are things that don’t really matter?” What ensued was a great interaction between two “Jakes” about what matters in God’s Kingdom....
Catholic Diocese of Washington, DC and Forty Other Groups Sue Obama Administration
At least forty Catholic dioceses and organizations in the United States have filed suit against the Obama Administration for violation of First Amendment rights. According to , The suits filed by the Catholic organizations focus on the regulation that Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced last August and finalized in January that requires virtually all health-care plans in the United States to cover sterilizations and all Food and Drug Administration-approved contraceptives, including those that can cause abortions. The...
Mark Zuckerberg and the Biblical Meaning of Success
There aretwo great lies our culture promotes among children in school, students in college, and professionals in the business world, says Hugh Whelchel: (1)“If you work hard enough, you can be anything you want to be.” (2) “You can be the best in the world. If you try hard enough, you could be the next Zuckerberg.” Whelchel explains why these lies have “catastrophically damaged our view of work and vocation, because they have distorted our biblical view of success.” If...
The Spiritual Temptation of the Welfare State
The conditions under which the government transfers wealth are different than the conditions under which the church transfers wealth, says James R. Rodgers. Yet many Christian leaders are tempted to use the power of the state to dowhat is required of the church: Ginning up donations, however, is the hard road. Given the imperative that the needy should be fed, how much easier it is to step around the church and the power of the Gospel, and instead to make...
Discerning God’s Call
For the next two weeks I’m privileged to be teaching a course on Christian ethics and contemporary culture at Farel Reformed Theological Seminary in Montreal, Quebec. This morning’s class focused on the issue of calling and the Christian life. We discussed some of the ways in which God’s call to follow es to different individuals in a variety of circumstances and in a variety of means. As background, we read Alissa Wilkinson’s short essay, “Vocation Takes Patience.” Discerning God’s call...
Related Classification
Copyright 2023-2025 - www.mreligion.com All Rights Reserved