Free Republic

A referendum on "Free Sundays" for all Polish workers is expected next year Poland’s leading Catholic bishops have spoken out in support of establishing a ban on Sunday commerce. Speaking on Polish Radio, Archbishop Stanislaw Gadecki claimed “Free Sundays are what all Catholics, non-Catholics and non-believers need.” The interview came before the upcoming meeting of the Bishops Conference, which is expected to support the proposal. Of course, the ban could only be instituted by the Polish government. BBC reports that the bishops have taken great care to appeal to the government through secular terms, keeping the religious aspects of “Free...

In South Carolina, it's still technically illegal to work - or let people dance - on Sundays. Juveniles can't play pinball. And it's illegal to challenge anyone to a sword or gun fight. Those are among the antiquated laws legislators are seeking to repeal. A bill advanced unanimously Tuesday by the House Judiciary Committee would repeal 11 state laws. One that dates to 1880 makes adultery or couples living together outside of marriage illegal. ...

A few days ago the NC House passed a bill that lifts the ban on Sunday hunting (with a gun, you can already bow hunt on Sundays) on private property. Still a ban within 500 yards of a church, and some other exclusions. Localities can reinstall the ban in the future if their local community wants to. Great discussion of the liberty / social conservative dynamic at play. What say Freep nation?

These are the places in America where alcohol is still banned The year was 1933. America's fourteen-year experiment in sobriety was over; the federally mandated ban on the sale and manufacture of alcohol had been lifted. All across the U.S., people welcomed the repeal of prohibition with open arms and flowing taps. Or rather, most of them did. Meet the counties where America's "noble experiment" never died. When prohibition lifted almost eighty years ago, many communities (particularly in the Bible Belt) voted to keep alcohol bans in place at the local level. Today, there are still more than 200 "dry"...

·11250 Waples Mill Road ·   Fairfax, Virginia 22030    ·800-392-8683   Sunday Hunting Hearing Scheduled for Thursday in Pennsylvania   Tuesday, September 13, 2011   Contact members of the state House Game and Fisheries Committee This Thursday, September 15, the Pennsylvania House Game and Fisheries Committee will hold its second public hearing to consider ending the prohibition on Sunday hunting. This hearing will be held at 6:30 p.m. in the East Allen Township Municipal Building, located at 5344 Nor-Bath Boulevard in Northampton.The prohibition on Sunday hunting is an old blue law left on the books in only six states. Hunters pump millions of...

Many French people aren't devout but hold to at least one religious teaching: Sunday is a day of rest. That practice is under threat from a controversial pro-work law that will allow more French stores to open Sundays. The law was passed by Parliament Thursday. That is causing worry over the decline of leisure in the traditional French lifestyle, piquing many who feel that unindustrious Sundays are something of a birthright. "Sunday is sacred," said Marion Schmitt, a 52-year-old saleswoman at a clothing store in Paris. "It's important to spend time with your family." Loosening Sunday shopping rules is part...

A 28-year-old yeshiva student was arrested late Sunday for the second time after undressing completely in a Tel Aviv supermarket with only a sock to cover his genitals, to protest the store's sale of chametz during Passover. The same student was arrested for pulling the same stunt last year in a Bat Yam store, after the Jerusalem Magistrate's Court passed a controversial ruling which permitted the sale of chametz (foods Jewish law prohibits on Passover) in some businesses. The court ruled then that the matzot law, which prohibits the display of chametz, in public places during the holiday, does not...

DAMASCUS, Va. – With anti-liquor signs going up and a prayer march through town last Thursday night, opposition is heating up to the liquor-by-the-drink question, which is up for a referendum vote on May 6. "Most of the churches in the area just believe that the Bible teachers against the drinking of alcohol of any kind," said Wayne Baker, preacher at Laurel Avenue Church of Christ that put up a sign in opposition as soon as they learned of the referendum. "It [alcohol] has always caused problems, and physical damage, but also spiritual damage. They’re relying upon the alcohol to...

Jim Wallace likes nothing more than a day out in the woods, listening to the birds, scanning the tree line for pheasants or grouse, and taking aim with his 20-gauge shotgun. But with all the meetings and programs he runs as the director of a nonprofit organization, he has little time to fire his Ruger. Making it harder is a law more than a century older than the United States that prohibits him from hunting on Sundays, often the only time he has available.

Supreme Court ruling prompts N.S. premier to eliminate Sunday shopping ban James Keller, Canadian Press Published: Wednesday, October 04, 2006 HALIFAX (CP) - Nova Scotia's premier is scrapping the province's Sunday shopping ban, ending years of heated debate in a province that was one of the last to forbid the practice. Rodney MacDonald announced the sudden and surprising policy reversal Wednesday, immediately after a Nova Scotia Supreme Court judge struck down regulations aimed at stopping two grocery chains from opening seven days a week. MacDonald said the province will not appeal the decision, and will update regulations by the end...

Maybe 'blue laws' weren't so bad By David R. Francis Recall the political storms in the United States over lifting bans on opening stores on Sundays - the so-called "blue laws." Christian ministers would point to Moses' fourth commandment: "Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy." Owners of mom-and-pop retail shops would plead to keep a legal "day of rest" that prevented big stores from luring away business by staying open on Sundays. But growing numbers of women worked outside the home and found it difficult to shop during the week. States hoped Sunday store hours would boost tax...

Nova Scotia vows Sunday-shopping crackdown TERRY WEBER Globe and Mail Update The Nova Scotia government said Friday that it will crack down on the number of stores opening on Sunday. The move will come by way of an amendment to existing legislation in an effort to close a loophole now being used by some larger retailers to do business on that day. “We believe it is important to respect the results of the Sunday shopping plebiscite held in 2004,” Premier Rodney MacDonald said in a statement. He also said, however, that recent events in the province suggest that the issue...

Largely ignored, Puritan laws like 'Common Day of Rest' revisited for the holidays... When Attorney General Thomas F. Reilly warned retailers that they would face prosecution if their doors opened on Thanksgiving, he was citing a nearly 400-year-old-law, penned by Puritans trying to enforce their idea of order on the dark shores of the New World. And as the year-end holiday approaches, authorities are watching for any supermarkets or department stores that try to do business on Christmas Day, citing the same timeworn legislation. This legal relic is part of legislation known as the blue laws: rarely enforced and largely...

BOSTON - Massachusetts' attorney general is launching an investigation into several supermarkets that stayed open opened on Thanksgiving in defiance of the state's Puritan-era Blue Laws. The laws were passed in the 1600s to keep colonists at home or in church on Sundays. Parts of the laws, such as the ban on Sunday liquor sales, have been repealed, but a prohibition on most stores doing business on Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's Day, has not. "If these stores want to open, there's a way to do it: Change the law," David Guano, a spokesman for Attorney General Thomas F. Reilly,...

There'll be no last-minute shopping for turkeys or trimmings on Thanksgiving Day in Massachusetts. The state has warned the upscale Whole Foods supermarket chain that it will risk criminal charges under the state's centuries-old "blue laws" if it goes ahead with plans to open on the holiday. The office of Attorney General Thomas Reilly issued a legal opinion after officials at a Whole Foods competitor, Shaw's Supermarkets, wrote him a letter asking him to block the opening, The Boston Globe reported.

Attorney general shuts down Whole Foods holiday opening November 19, 2005 BOSTON --An attempt by the Whole Foods supermarket chain to defy the state's centuries-old "blue laws" and open on Thanksgiving has been shut down by the state attorney general, who told the upscale chain to stay closed for the holiday or risk criminal charges. The office of Attorney General Thomas Reilly issued a legal opinion after officials at a Whole Foods competitor, Shaw's Supermarkets, wrote him a letter asking him to block the opening, The Boston Globe reported. David Lannon, president of Whole Foods Market's North Atlantic Region, said...

WHITE HOUSE, Tenn. -- Play ball! As long as it's not Sunday morning. Alderman Darrel Leftwich is proposing that the city establish new Sunday hours for White House Municipal Park so sporting events could only be held in the afternoon. "I am concerned that we are not sending the right message to the community by having tournaments and league play during worship hours," Leftwich said. Leftwich said that he drove by the park Sunday morning on his way to services at Temple Baptist Church and saw that it was full of people at a soccer tournament. "God our Father intended...

Phoenix Bishop says "No Sunday Shopping" - A Wedge Issue in the Culture Wars PHOENIX, July 18, 2005 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The Catholic bishop of Phoenix, Arizona, quoted in the Arizona Republic, told a congregation attending the most recent priestly ordinations that the world has suffered with the loss of the religious observance of Sunday as a day of rest. The article, which appeared in the July 17th Sunday edition, posed the question, "Whatever happened to Sunday?" It reflects the observation of many Christians that the day which used to be reserved to religious and family togetherness, has turned into "an...

HARRISBURG, Pa. - Pennsylvanians legally would be able to buy a case of beer on Sunday in their own state under legislation approved by the Senate on Monday and sent to the desk of Gov. Ed Rendell. The bill would change current law, which limits purchases to two six-packs from a restaurant or tavern. Instead, the state's 1,300 beer distributors would have the option of paying $100 for an annual license and opening between noon and 5 p.m. on Sundays to sell cases. Rendell's spokeswoman said he is expected to sign the bill. The bill's sponsor, Sen. Sean Logan, D-Allegheny,...

LONDON - For more than a century, teams of donkeys have carried tourists down the beach at Blackpool, one of Britain’s top tourist destinations. But only now are they to get a compulsory lunch break. As part of a wide-ranging "employment rights" charter for donkeys, Blackpool council inspectors are to carry out spot-checks on the beach to ensure the animals get a statutory hour off to munch their hay. The 200 animals working at the coastal resort in northwest England ferry tourists along the beach throughout the summer. Under the new rules, donkeys must only work from 10:00 am to...