Hobby Lobby provides us with all the arts and crafts a man or woman could ever want — and that is spectacular — but what it will not be providing its employees with is much more concerning. Being owned by a religious family and operating under the guidance of Christian values, Hobby Lobby refuses to supply several forms of contraception to its employees that are required under the Affordable Care Act.

As you may have heard, this has gone to court as the Sebelius v. Hobby Lobby Store case, and a decision as to a lawful extent of religious influence in matters of for-profit corporations will be coming later, probably this summer. But until then — and far after — this highly charged debate will linger on, and for good reason.

Hobby Lobby’s owners, the Greens, claim that the new requirements infringe on their religious values, and with corporations increasingly being recognized essentially as people across the board, they believe this infringes on their freedom of religion and freedom of speech.

There are a couple of issues with that: first of all, the Greens believe that 4 of 20 contraceptives they ban, including Plan B and Ella, cause abortions post-conception, which is untrue because they prevent pregnancy, not disrupt it.

Also, the entire concept of a corporation being represented as an individual with the exact same freedoms contradicts the fundamentals of the laws in place to give strength to the one person who needs protection. Protection from whom? Corporations like Hobby Lobby, of course — which by nature already has a thumb on its employee’s lives.

Who decides the religion of a business? The Greens? Or should the shareholders have a say? Or maybe the 13,000-strong workforce? There is more to the business than the owners and the building.

Rather, granting a corporation the privilege to chew up the law and spit an alternative version on its employees is atrocious. Although the withholding of a few contraceptives seems painless, it could lead to more extreme and blurry merging of religion and law.

Recent in memory is a similar case in Arizona in which smaller businesses fought to have the government’s approval to turn away gay customers because the lifestyle did not agree with their theology. Thank God that was proven ridiculous by the legislation. But because the Hobby Lobby debacle is not as blatantly discriminatory, it may have a bumpier road and a less fortunate, less progressive outcome.

On the surface, this is viewed as a woman’s issue — and the argument has been heard a million times: it is her body, she deserves control of it and that means give her all the health care and decisions she deserves. But if the violation of those rights do not ring alarming, then the potential of further, not-so-gendered health care abuse may catch more attention. If religion is used as a weapon to deny birth control, could it not, in theory, be used to deny coverage for vaccinations and transfusions?

This too easily could be a jumping point into a pool of life-or-death refusals. If a corporation is able to have this level of influence, it is forcing its holy practice on its employees, which will no doubt be the catalyst for many court cases to come.  From every angle, this is not freedom of expression; it is an abuse of power.

Down the road, if Hobby Lobby does succeed in asserting its beliefs in its policy, all corporations could interpret laws according to their belief systems, which may vary wildly from one business to another.

When I was little, going to Hobby Lobby was a treat. Smelling the supplies and seeing beautiful Martha Stewart hopefuls parading around with their shopping carts but now all I can see is a building representation of a business overstepping boundaries and taking advantage of freedom. But until this gets resolved, I guess I will have to get my arts and crafts fix at a couple of flea markets. Oh well.

A Hobby Lobby employee was approached for comment, but the employees are not permitted to discuss the court case.