Religious groups are increasingly demanding special action from government and civic groups to "protect" their weekly religious holiday, Sunday. Pope John Paul will issue a special letter this week urging his flock of sheep to join in this effort.

Web Posted: July 6, 1998

hile most concerns about the separation of church and state in America focus on legislation such as school prayer or vouchers, a movement is gaining momentum throughout the country which may resurrect one of the most divisive and intrusive issues in the nation's history -- so-called Sunday "blue laws," legal attempts to enforce mandatory observance of the Sabbath.

    In recent weeks, Protestant and Roman Catholic officials have taken aim at practices such as parades, sporting events and other community activities which they say "interferes" with religious observance on Sunday. In Massachusetts, the State Council of Churches contacted its 1,700 congregations urging them to become more proactive in pressuring civic groups and government to avoid scheduling public events which compete with religious services. New York's combative Roman Catholic Cardinal John O'Connor is boycotting Major League Baseball, protesting the scheduling of games on Christian holidays like Good Friday.

    It's all part of a growing wave of "Sabbatarianism," the use of legislation to minimize commercial enterprises or other activities on Sunday, the day embraced by most major denomination's as the "Lord's Day." Sabbatarian roots run deep in the American experience; the nation's first "blue laws" dates to 1610 in the old Virginia settlement, where failure to attend church services on Sunday resulted in deprivation of food, whipping and even death.

    Blue laws -- which are said to have received their name from a long list of prohibited activities in New Haven colony in the mid-seventeenth century which were printed on blue paper -- began to die out with the American Revolution. A process of "disestablishment," which obliterated the official status of certain colonial era religions one was required to join in order to exercise certain rights, weakened many blue laws. Periodic waves of religious hysteria, though, often created a climate for support of Sabbatarian legislation, which sought to prohibit entertainment or commercial enterprise on Sundays. Such laws frequently morphed into other areas including efforts to control drinking, smoking and the prostitution ("white slavery.") Indeed, Sabbatarianism was a key component in fervid efforts by Protestant reformers to "cleanse" society of what they saw as the ills and abuses caused by industrialization, growing accumulation of wealth and secular society. Following the collapse of Prohibition, the "Great Experiment," blue laws were hastily enacted in many states and counties in an effort to at least control the consumption and production of alcohol.

    Sabbatarianism also expressed its angst about secular culture in other ways, too. Attacks on evolution and its teaching in public schools were also part of a fundamentalist and evangelical social agenda during the early part of this century, as was the effort to protect America from the perceived threat of German modernistic religious doctrines and theologies. As noted by James Davison Hunter, author of "Evangelicalism, The Coming Generation" (Chicago, 1987), it soon resulted in this segment of Christians becoming "objects of derision for their anti-intellectualism, their bigotry." H.L. Menchen took lethal aim declaring that these efforts to repress scientific inquiry, and enforce Biblical morality represented "narrow-minded moralism," and were the "stupid and anti-social crazes of inferior men."

FROM NEW YORK AND TEXAS TO VATICAN CITY

    Another factor fueled the collapse of Sunday blue laws -- economic reality. Blue laws had been justified by some reform groups as a "day of rest" for hard-pressed workers in the midst of the industrial revolution. The rapid ascent of a service-oriented economy, though, along with changes in the marketplace such as the need for "flex" time, sounded the death knell of 9-5, five-days-a-week banker's hours. Pundits and cultural gurus from Alvin Toffler ("Future Shock") to John Naisbitt, Faith Popcorn and others have documented the obliteration of our notion of a standard work week. In the retail field especially, the move to be open for business on evenings and weekends has been relentless, and a compelling economic necessity.

    The popularity of secular culture, though, especially on Sunday has not passed unnoticed by religious leaders. Pope John Paul II will be issuing an Apostolic Letter due out this Tuesday titled "Dies Domini" ("Day of the Lord") which calls for Roman Catholics to defend the special status of the Sabbath. According to news sources, the wording of the document has been kept sealed, but it is reported to be divided into three sections. The first will attempt to discuss the Sabbath from a Biblical perspective, while the others look at the status of the "day of rest" today and suggest ways to return it to its once exalted position.

   Sabbatarianism is not unfamiliar territory for either the Pope or his church. In 1990, John Paul denounced Italian labor unions for their new policy of "swing" shifts of continual work throughout the work week. That resulted in a flurry of unexpected and bitter denunciations from labor groups, and even Carlo Patruno, vice president of Confidustria, a business group, who told the Pontiff that he should "mind his own business."

    And two weeks ago, John Paul declared during his visit to Vienna, Austria, "Do whatever you can to preserve Sunday. Make it clear that this day must not be worked (sic) since it must be celebrated as the day of our Lord."

PART OF A GROWING MOVEMENT?

    It's not just from religious leaders, though, that the call is going out to reclaim the Sabbath from the clutches of entertainment or commercial activity. Today's Dallas Morning News reports in its Religion section, "Churches, workers trying to restore Sunday as day to relax, experts say." The piece begins by citing the case of a Ft. Worth, Texas car dealer who says that he is seeking an injunction to force a competing firm to obey a state law which bans auto dealers from operating more than six days a week. "We're already open 84 hours a week... I'm open from 7 in the morning until 9 at night. Isn't that enough?" asks Ken Nichols, who says that his motivation for seeking the injunction is not based on religious grounds.

    The newspaper also cites the case of an unidentified Pizza chain which has allegedly begun looking into the economic impact for its business of Sunday closing. But the trend, at least in the marketplace and elsewhere, is clearly against Sabbatarianism, even when it is justified on nonreligious grounds. The firm which is the target of Mr. Nichol's injunction, CarMax, says that is contesting the Texas law "as a way to help stressed-out customers who must work six days a week," says the News. The head of the company declares that the weekend is the "convenient time" to shop for automobiles, adding "Our expectation is Sunday will typically be our second-best volume day -- next to Saturday." The trend is growing, too, as manifest by companies like United Parcel Service and Fed Ex step up their delivery schedules to seven days a week..

   A common theme now echoed by religious movements across the spectrum to justify a "new Sabbatarianism" cites growing time constraints placed on families, as two income households become the norm and workers supposedly put in more hours for less or stagnant pay. Economists remain divided over these sorts of claims, though, citing rising average income, greater hourly productivity and, in some cases, declining hours of work. And secularists point out that prohibiting certain economic activity on Sunday (even under the guise of a nonreligious purpose) discriminates against workers and others who need that day for shopping or other forms of relaxation and contemplation other than heading for the nearest church. Even so, one finds a resonance on the "Enough is enough!" theme voiced by Mr. Nichols even in such religious- conservative quarters as the Promise Keepers. Issues of "New Man" Magazine (until recently, the group's official publication) include anecdotal testimony of success-driven men who worked long hours, earned substantial salaries yet "neglected" wives and families. Jonathan Wilson, professor in the Religious Studies Department at Westmont College in California told the News, "I think we are getting a little worn down as a people and as a culture and we're saying, 'Wouldn't it be nice if all were off on this day?'" Sheldon Zimmerman of Hebrew Union College agrees, suggesting "We have become enslaved."

    And there is the case of Rev. Tom Plumbley, pastor of Midway Hills Christian Church in Dallas. He told parishioners, "Whether you're a poor person being required to bus tables at a restaurant or whether you're an investment banker, there's this pressure to be working all the time or you're not doing your job..."

New York's Roman Catholic Cardinal John O'Connor displays ignorance of the First Amendment by asking, "Why is it religion which must always accommodate?"

    Dallas Morning News also mentioned the case of Cardinal John O'Connor, who has become more outspoken in his Sabbatarian predilection. The paper said that according to Archdiocese spokesperson Joe Zwilling, parishioners "were about 3-to-1 in favor of the Cardinal's position."

    "Why is it religion that must always accommodate?" O'Connor asked in a recent column for the newspaper Catholic New York. "How many altar pastors have been told by altar servers, 'I can't serve Sunday. I have a little league game'?" The prelate denounced what he termed "the constant erosion, the constant secularization of our culture, that I strongly believe to be a serious mistake."

COURTS REJECT SABBATARIAN DEMANDS

    Over the years, Sunday blue laws have generally fared poorly in courts when challenged. And according to an attorney with the Liberty Legal Institute, employees who go to court to demand a work-free Sabbath "are losing in the courts more than they once did," notes the News. That could change, though, if legislation such as the Religious Liberty Protection Act (a version of the discredited and unconstitutional Religious Freedom Restoration Act) is enacted. The law requires governments to use a "compelling interest" standard before placing any "burden" on religious groups or practice. Public employees, from cops to teachers, are already in the courts suing for their right to wear distinctive clothing or express religious preferences in other ways. Would this spill over to the private sector?, wonder some state-church separationists.

   Religious groups, of course, are certainly free to encourage their membership to observe the Sabbath. Some denominations, such as the Seventh- day Adventist Church (SDA) hold that the Sabbath is on Saturday, not Sunday. Jews have a similar belief in when the "holy time" of the week occurs as well. But is it the prospect of mandated Sabbatarianism in the form of Sunday blue laws, or indirect pressures -- like "encouraging" civic or government groups to discriminate in favor of religious exercise in scheduling athletic events, marathon or other public activities -- which threatens to violate state-church separation. In the confrontation between secularism and religious belief, churches may be increasingly tempted to "keep holy the Sabbath" by relying less on the certainty of faith, and more on the power of government.

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