Hobby Lobby’s founder called wealth ‘a curse.’ His family spent millions chasing biblical artifacts
In The Gospel According to Hobby Lobby, Michael Blanding traces how the Green family has steered craft-store profits into courts, classrooms and a $500 million museum.
In 2021, investigative journalist Michael Blanding discovered a 3,500-year-old clay tablet belonging to the craft store chain Hobby Lobby. Intrigued by the connection between the company and the artifact, Blanding delved deeper and found that the Green family, founders of Hobby Lobby, had invested millions in biblical artifacts to promote a Christian worldview.
The family spent $3 million to settle a 2017 case where the company was accused of buying looted antiquities. The Gilgamesh tablet, one of the artifacts, was seized by authorities in 2019 and returned to Iraq in 2021. The Green family, while declining to be interviewed for Blanding's book, has used their wealth to influence American laws and culture through the Hobby Lobby company, education, courts, and political groups.
The company has been involved in a controversial Supreme Court case where it was exempted from covering certain contraceptives.
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