Are you fucking kidding me?

[Scooter]

So Hobby Lobby's so-called "religious beliefs" precluded it from including contraceptives in its employee benefits plans, but did not preclude it from trafficking in stolen antiquities.

I might have smiled at the irony if the consequences had not been so fucking disastrous for millions of women in the United States.

[Bicycle Bill]

Hypothetical situation ....
Not that the Hobby Lobby people were doing what they were doing with such a high-minded purpose first and foremost, but what would be your take on the matter if someone were trafficking in stolen antiquities and as a result these artifacts were preserved, instead of suffering the same fate at the hands of ISIS or the Taliban as the Bamiyan Buddhas, the ancient sites of Nimrud and Palmyra, or various other irreplaceable examples of non-Islamic heritage, writings, or art?

-"BB"-  

[Scooter]

I might be willing to discuss that hypothetical were Hobby Lobby a museum, instead of an arts and crafts store. I'm not sure we can talk about cuneiform tiles being "preserved" if they become part of someone's kitchen floor.

[Burning Petard]

But the owners of Hobby Lobby also financially support and have donated most of the collection in a Bible Museum.

But no scholar would touch this stuff for serious study because there is no provenance. Sort of like a Dinosaur expert coming across a bone he recognizes as unique in a roadside tourist attraction in Texas. Where was it found, in what kind of rock formation? Unknowable.

snailgate

[rubato]

Hobby Lobby and most ostentatious "christians" are certain that they alone are moral luminaries when discussing the behavior of others.


They have decided that enjoying sex is wicked so it is only natural that they should want the consequences of other people enjoying sex to be painful and debilitating.


yrs,
rubato

[Bicycle Bill]

I might be willing to discuss that hypothetical were Hobby Lobby a museum, instead of an arts and crafts store. I'm not sure we can talk about cuneiform tiles being "preserved" if they become part of someone's kitchen floor.

Uhhh ... 'preservation' takes many strange and circuitous paths. The Rosetta Stone was once used as building material in a 15th century Turkish fort (later occupied by the French and renamed Fort Jullien) before its significance was understood; and then there's the story of Minnesota's Kensington Runestone, which at one time was being used as a stepping stone into someone's barn.

-"BB"-

[Big RR]

Hypothetical situation ....
Not that the Hobby Lobby people were doing what they were doing with such a high-minded purpose first and foremost, but what would be your take on the matter if someone were trafficking in stolen antiquities and as a result these artifacts were preserved, instead of suffering the same fate at the hands of ISIS or the Taliban as the Bamiyan Buddhas, the ancient sites of Nimrud and Palmyra, or various other irreplaceable examples of non-Islamic heritage, writings, or art?

-"BB"-  

so Bill, kind of like a modern Crusades to keep the artifacts out of the hands of those dirty moslems and make sure Christians own them? Not all that much better IMHO.

and when you consider what BP said (which I agree with) there really is no excuse for their breaking the "thou shalt not steal" commandment.

[Jarlaxle]

Stupid statement.

[Gob]

WTF is the hobby lobby?

[Scooter]

It's a chain of arts and crafts stores owned by ultra right-wing Christian nutcases.

[Gob]

Oh, ok, nothing of any import then.

[Bicycle Bill]

Hypothetical situation ....
Not that the Hobby Lobby people were doing what they were doing with such a high-minded purpose first and foremost, but what would be your take on the matter if someone were trafficking in stolen antiquities and as a result these artifacts were preserved, instead of suffering the same fate at the hands of ISIS or the Taliban as the Bamiyan Buddhas, the ancient sites of Nimrud and Palmyra, or various other irreplaceable examples of non-Islamic heritage, writings, or art? 

so Bill, kind of like a modern Crusades to keep the artifacts out of the hands of those dirty moslems and make sure Christians own them? Not all that much better IMHO.

and when you consider what BP said (which I agree with) there really is no excuse for their breaking the "thou shalt not steal" commandment.

I am perfectly willing to let things remain in situ, but when doing this is likely to result in their being turned into so many tons of gravel, rubble, ash, and even paint pigment (ever hear of 'mummy brown' ?), then something needs to be done.

-"BB"-

[RayThom]

"Hobby Lobby... we put the fun in fundamentalist."

[Big RR]

Hypothetical situation ....
Not that the Hobby Lobby people were doing what they were doing with such a high-minded purpose first and foremost, but what would be your take on the matter if someone were trafficking in stolen antiquities and as a result these artifacts were preserved, instead of suffering the same fate at the hands of ISIS or the Taliban as the Bamiyan Buddhas, the ancient sites of Nimrud and Palmyra, or various other irreplaceable examples of non-Islamic heritage, writings, or art? 

so Bill, kind of like a modern Crusades to keep the artifacts out of the hands of those dirty moslems and make sure Christians own them? Not all that much better IMHO.

and when you consider what BP said (which I agree with) there really is no excuse for their breaking the "thou shalt not steal" commandment.

I am perfectly willing to let things remain in situ, but when doing this is likely to result in their being turned into so many tons of gravel, rubble, ash, and even paint pigment (ever hear of 'mummy brown' ?), then something needs to be done.

-"BB"-

I do agree that something should be done, but this is not it. Removing artifacts and placing them in some sort of private museum destroys their historical utility almost as much as grinding them into gravel.