Hobby Lobby drew applause and criticism on the Fourth of July for a holiday-themed newspaper advertisement that cited a Bible verse and said the United States was “One Nation Under God.”
The full-page advertisement ran in newspapers nationwide but also was available on the company’s website. Hobby Lobby, which was founded by a Christian family, has run holiday-themed ads since 1996 and Independence Day ads since 2006.
The 2021 ad showed an American flag alongside the phrase “One Nation Under God” and a verse from Psalm 33:12, “Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord.”
The bottom of the bad included 20 quotes from Founding Fathers, Congress, the U.S. Supreme Court and others on the subject of religion.
A quote from George Washington read, “It is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and favor.”
A quote from John Adams read, “Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.”
Hobby Lobby has run a similar advertisement in the past. In fact, the 2020 ad included the same quotes and the same Bible verse.
Still, this year’s ad sparked a back-and-forth among supporters and critics on social media. “Hobby Lobby” trended in the Top 5 on Twitter for much of Independence Day.
“As an American Jew who served in the United States Army and took an oath to defend the Constitution; I find your statement of America should be lead by Christians to be asinine and unconstitutional,” one person tweeted. “Shame on you”
