‘Hobby Lobby Took Out a Full Page Ad Today …’

On November 4 2021 Imgur user BStev shared an image of text, asserting that Hobby Lobby “took out a full page ad today,” purportedly proclaiming that “America should only be led by Christians”:

Titled “Antisemitic much Hobby Lobby?”, the post included no additional contextual information. Black text against a white background read:

Hobby lobby took out a full page ad in the Register-Guard this morning. Talking about how America should only be led by Christians. Absolutely frightening. Please remember that Michaels, Joanns & your local craft/hobby shops are always an excellent place to spend your money.

One commenter requested a source for the image:

Could you link us to this ad? … nah maybe its best not.

Another commenter added an image to their comment, purportedly showing the advertisement itself:

Small text at the bottom read “©2021 Hobby Lobby,” and after a “One Nation Under God” graphic, seven sections appeared: Presidents, Founding Fathers, Supreme Court Justices, Congress, Education, Supreme Court Rulings, and Foreign Opinion. Its content consisted largely of quoted elements — referencing a “Christian nation,” making statements including “We are a Christian people,” and involving a parenthetical claim that a Supreme Court decision was a “unanimous decision declaring America a Christian nation.”

The original Imgur post showed a July 4 2021 tweet by @Barkiologist on July 4 2021; the version cropped and shared to Imgur removed the source and the specific “today” referenced in it:

A different screenshot of the tweet was shared by a Tumblr account on July 4 2021 (the version seen on Imgur was shared on September 15 2021 by a different Tumblr account):

As for the Hobby Lobby “One Nation Under God” advertisement, it was both live on HobbyLobby.com as a PDF, and archived. It was also live on leadertelegram.com, and archived.

A page on HobbyLobby.com called “Holiday Messages” addressed the advertisement and others like it, explaining that the company placed evangelizing advertisements for two religious holidays (Christmas and Easter) and one secular one (Independence Day, with a nearly identical version in 2014):

Christmas 1995, David Green was reading the Christmas advertisements, including those for his own store, and he felt commissioned by God to do something different. Hobby Lobby was selling all kinds of crafts that customers used to celebrate Christmas, yet David Green was struck by the lack of any testimony in newspapers regarding the meaning of the holiday.

David Green responded to that commission in 1996 by creating a simple newspaper ad … Before long, Hobby Lobby was placing beautiful full-page ads celebrating the real meaning of Christmas, Easter and Independence Day in newspapers across the country. The impact and relevancy of these messages is ongoing, so we post them here for your enjoyment.

An Imgur text post stated that Hobby Lobby took out a full page advertisement “this morning,” which included content about “how America should only be led by Christians.” Although “this morning” was inaccurate as of November 2021, the general claim was accurate. A July 4 2021 Hobby Lobby advertisement featured a “One Nation Under God” graphic, and contained curated quotes supporting the inaccurate claim that United States is a “Christian nation.”