AN ENEMY
OF THE STATE
Can a Christian run a business without violating his faith?
The government says no.
Y
OU WOULD THINK A FAMILY that’s spent a half-
century making drawers and cabinets would know a
little something about compartmentalizing. That is,
after all, why people buy and install drawers and cabinets—
so that they can tuck away things they’re not using … store
them out of mind and out of sight.
The Hahns understand that. They make their living care-
fully crafting oak and cherry, maple and pine creations so
simple and beautiful that whatever may be stored within
becomes almost an afterthought.
They’re good enough at it that their business has grown,
in 50 years, from a two-man operation to more than a
thousand employees. Among their customers, they have a
reputation for excellence. Within their community, they’re
respected for their generosity. Their employees speak of the
family’s kindness and compassion.
The Hahns themselves speak little of any of these things;
privacy is as fundamental to their character as faith is to
their beliefs. But they are not ashamed of their convictions,
or of how those convictions shape their daily life and work
and environment. Their beliefs are personal, but they are not
hidden away.
32
By Chris Potts
In houses and offices, drawers and cabinets have their
place. People like the Hahns, though, have no compartments
in their hearts. They believe that if a man truly holds to his
convictions, he must honor them as faithfully on the floor of
his factory as he does at his own breakfast table.
But now the Hahns have come face-to-face with the hard
reality that people who don’t share their religious beliefs—
and even some who do—look on faith like the things in their
cabinets … as something to be tucked away, out of mind,
and out of sight.
It’s a view the federal government is now compelling the
Hahns to share. But for people who have built their business
as much on deep-seated belief as on finely crafted wood …
the government’s demands go hard against the grain.
It is perhaps both easier, and harder, for the Hahns to
understand what is happening in American legal culture
today than it is for people of other faith backgrounds and
persuasions, in other parts of the country.
As Mennonites, they represent a 500-year-old history of
struggling for the right to live out their beliefs. “Struggling”—
not “fighting.” The Mennonites have always cherished peace,
shunned war, and responded to the various political and