# David Green Founder of [[Hobby Lobby]] (1972) and patriarch of the Green family religious-conservative philanthropic-and-business empire. Born in Oklahoma City to a Pentecostal-tradition pastor father, Green built Hobby Lobby from a family-garage frame-shop business in 1972 to the largest privately-held arts-and-crafts retail chain in the United States (~1,000+ stores; ~$8 billion annual revenue mid-2020s). His net worth is estimated in the high single-digit billions of dollars (Forbes ranges have varied between ~$8B and ~$15B depending on year and methodology). Green's significance for the [[Christian Nationalism Ecosystem]] is **as the principal architect** of the Green-family religious-conservative cultural infrastructure. Hobby Lobby's operations as an explicitly Christian-conservative business — closed Sundays, Christian-radio in stores, full-page religious-content holiday newspaper ads, employee-benefit policies aligned with Green-family theology — established the company as the most visible "Christian business" template in the United States. The 2014 ***Burwell v. Hobby Lobby*** Supreme Court case — argued by [[Becket Fund]] and won 5-4 — established corporate-religious-personhood doctrine and is the doctrinal anchor for an expanding line of religious-liberty litigation. Beyond the corporate work, Green has funded the [[Museum of the Bible]] (opened 2017, ~$500M project), substantial donations to religious-conservative legal and policy organizations, and the family's purchase and donation of religious antiquities — a portion of which became the subject of federal forfeiture (2017–2020) when [[the Greens]] were found to have purchased thousands of looted Iraqi artifacts. For the Right Wing KB, David Green is a **Funders-layer node** of the Christian Nationalism Ecosystem (alongside [[Peter Thiel]]'s tech-right interface, the DeVos family, the [[Bradley Foundation]], and others). His specific contribution is the **for-profit-business-as-religious-vehicle model** — using a privately-held corporation as a multi-vector platform for religious-liberty litigation, religious-cultural philanthropy (Museum of the Bible), Bible-in-public-schools curriculum projects, and family-foundation-aligned religious giving. The model has been substantially imitated by other Christian-conservative business owners. ## Biography **David S. Green** was born **November 13, 1941** in **Emporia, Kansas** and raised in a devout **Assemblies of God** family — his father was a Pentecostal pastor. Green grew up in modest circumstances, working in a five-and-dime store as a teenager. He married **Barbara** in 1961; the couple has three children: **[[Mart Green]]** (born 1962), **[[Steve Green]]** (born 1963), and **Darsee Lett**. ## Founding of Hobby Lobby (1972) Green founded [[Hobby Lobby]] in **1972** with a **$600 loan**, assembling miniature picture frames in a **300-square-foot** space attached to his home in Oklahoma City. The company opened its first retail store in **1972** in a small storefront. Through the 1970s–1990s, Green expanded Hobby Lobby across Oklahoma, then the Sunbelt, then nationally — always operating as a **privately-held, family-controlled** business with no outside investors, no debt financing, and no public equity. The company's **Sunday-closing policy** — forgoing an estimated **$100 million or more** in annual revenue — has been the most visible expression of Green's integration of religious conviction into business operations. By the mid-2020s, Hobby Lobby operated **~1,000+ stores** across **48 states** with estimated annual revenue of **~$8 billion** and **~46,000 employees**. The company pays a minimum wage substantially above the federal minimum (raised to $18.50/hour in 2022). Green has maintained that the stores' atmosphere — Christian radio in-store, full-page religious-content holiday newspaper ads, employee policies reflecting Green-family theology — is integral to the business model rather than incidental. ## Business and Religious Philosophy Green published ***More Than a Hobby: How a $600 Startup Became America's Home and Craft Superstore*** in **2005** and ***Giving It All Away…and Getting It All Back Again*** in **2017** — both articulating his theology of business-as-stewardship. In **November 2022**, Green published an announcement declaring he had effectively **"given away" ownership** of Hobby Lobby — structuring the company to ensure it remains under family-and-mission control rather than being sold or taken public, with perpetual trusts and governance mechanisms aligned with the family's religious commitments. ## Burwell v. Hobby Lobby (2014) Green was the named plaintiff-by-proxy in ***Burwell v. Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc.*** — decided **June 30, 2014** in a **5-4** Supreme Court ruling (Alito majority opinion). The case, argued by the [[Becket Fund]], established that closely-held for-profit corporations could claim **religious exemptions** under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) from the Affordable Care Act's contraceptive-coverage mandate. The ruling was the doctrinal anchor for the corporate-religious-personhood line of cases and remains one of the most consequential religious-liberty decisions of the 21st century. ## Smuggled-Artifacts Case (2017–2020) The Green family's antiquities-purchasing program — overseen primarily by son [[Steve Green]] for the [[Museum of the Bible]] — resulted in a **July 2017** federal settlement in which Hobby Lobby agreed to **forfeit ~5,500 Iraqi artifacts** and pay a **$3 million fine** after the government determined the items had been looted from Iraqi archaeological sites and imported with falsified customs declarations. Additional Egyptian artifacts were returned through 2020. ## Philanthropy and Net Worth Green's **Forbes-estimated net worth** has ranged from **~$8 billion to ~$15 billion** depending on the year and valuation methodology. His philanthropic giving — channeled through the Green-family foundations and direct gifts — has supported the [[Museum of the Bible]] (~$500M+), [[Oral Roberts University]] (via son Mart), the **Green Scholars Initiative** (academic Bible-research program), Bible-curriculum-in-public-schools projects (Mustang Public Schools 2014; post-2024 revival in Oklahoma, Texas, Louisiana), and various evangelical organizations. ## KB Significance David Green is the **patriarch and founder** of the Green-family religious-conservative empire — a **Funders-layer node** of the [[Christian Nationalism Ecosystem]] whose specific contribution is the **for-profit-business-as-religious-vehicle model**. Hobby Lobby's corporate structure, Sunday-closing policy, and *Burwell v. Hobby Lobby* litigation created the template for using privately-held companies as multi-vector platforms for religious-liberty precedent, religious-cultural philanthropy, and Bible-in-public-schools curriculum projects. The family's three-way role differentiation — David as founder-patriarch, [[Steve Green]] as cultural-philanthropy architect (Museum of the Bible), [[Mart Green]] as business-succession CEO — illustrates how religious-conservative business families compound institutional influence across corporate, cultural, educational, and legal categories simultaneously. ## See Also - [[Hobby Lobby]] - [[Steve Green]] - [[Museum of the Bible]] - [[Burwell v. Hobby Lobby]] - [[Becket Fund]] - [[Christian Nationalism Ecosystem]]