Posted on 07/06/2006 11:35:38 AM PDT by GeorgiaDawg
Hi all....
FReepers have been very helpful in the past and I wanted to touch base to see if you could help again.
Our city council is debating putting Sunday alcohol sales on the ballot, yet again. The matter has been defeated twice in the past few years, but they are considering the referendum again.
While I am a believer of seperation of church and state, I also believe in keeping the Sabbath holy....can this be reconciled? I'd appreciate any thoughts or comments on any experience any of you have had with this issue...
Georgia Dawg
Let me add my $0.02 to the "No" crowd. Blue laws are futile in the end and a source of frustration and resentment to those who keep other Sabbaths. Let the vendor decide for himself or herself.
In TX, the only way you can buy it before noon is if you buy food with it! And most places won't sell it at all before noon.
Hubster discovered this when at the Astrodome to see the [then] Oilers...he was tanked when he got home. Thank goodness they were on a chartered bus.
I still feel that it's a nice tradition. A reminder of a kinder and gentler culture.
Bingo. The question regards one product's availability, ignoring a whole commandment ("...on that day you [and everyone else following your lead] shall not labor..."). Ironically, I'll be sipping wine around 11:30AM on Sundays (part of Communion).
That would be uslurpation of liquor... ;o)
If that was the tradition of the local community and had been on the books for years, instead of a new law urged by the Catholic church directly imposing its will on people, then I would have respected it or I would have moved somewhere else if it bothered me too much (which I doubt).
It's amusing to me how tradition is such a good justification for opposing things such as gay marriage or the removal of the ten commandments, but it is completely ignored when it comes to someone's can of beer.
The more of these laws which violate rights that are passed, the quicker the frog is cooked.
Why after 12:00 PM?
What has a time of day to do with anything?
The only people I know who supported the blue laws were retail workers who wanted a guaranteed day off... religion didn't enter into it at all. It'd certainly explain why the secular Northeast has been a holdout in that regard.
Not to mention assuming such a tax actually existed.
Ditto. They make the lines on base (where we can buy booze 24/7) longer on Sundays.
Doing what needs to be done is a bit different from laboring (and causing others to labor) on the day of rest.
Maybe in the olden days there was a problem with folks getting all hammered up and going to church.
They would get all mouthy and argue with the preacher..
How do you know what OUR tradition is? MY religious background would deny you any alcohol, any day of the week. Since when is a tradition a good basis for a law? Yarmulkes have a long tradition behind them in Judeo-Christian tradition; shall we pass a law that requires them being worn? How about mandatory facial hair for men?
No one is forcing you to forgo your traditions; you can easily NOT make Sunday purchases of booze. If the tradition is so strongly held, I am sure booze sellers will quickly find it unprofitable to pay employees, and stop selling it. Or, maybe the real tradition here is hypocrisy, because both you and I know that blue laws aren't stopping the booze drinking on the Sabbath.
There are plenty of unbelievers or believers that can go to an alternative service to perform those duties.
Maybe it's more a case of: I'm in the grocery store picking up some stuff for dinner - scripture-recommended vino included.
There's nothing inherently non-Christian about drinking alcohol so why single out alcohol? In fact, because Blue Laws are based on religion, they shouldn't exist at all.
Trampling the rights of people is certainly traditional, but there is nothing kind or gentle about it.
Because most religious groups that have Sunday for their sabbath are done with their services by noon.
If nothing else, anyone who remembers the description of Pearl Harbor should be able to see a certain unspoken respect for those who choose to worship. Even if one doesn't chose to do so for himself, he can respect others who do.
Sure, banning sales on Sunday morning won't guarantee preventing a drunken sot from bothering church folks, but it's a good deterrant. That's what laws are for. We all know there are no guarantees and that's why we have deterrants.
And yet Jesus was still condemned for telling the man to take up his bed and walk and breaking the Sabbath.
Go figure.
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