# "National Sunday Law" - anyone else gotten one of these? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [March 17, 2011, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-sunday-law-anyone-else-gotten-one-of-these/575073 "2011-03-17T22:08:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2011, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-sunday-law-anyone-else-gotten-one-of-these/575073/21 "2011-03-19T15:28:28Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > Most people do not work 7 days a week unless they want to. Unfortunately, it may be too narrow a definition of “want to”- some people have to take the shifts offered or get fired, or have to cobble together multiple part-time jobs to stay afloat. However, the larger point is accurate that most people aren’t in this category. However, let’s not minimize the real situation of many people who do have to work more than 7 days in a row. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2011, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-sunday-law-anyone-else-gotten-one-of-these/575073/22 "2011-03-19T15:30:09Z")
We’ve got a legislative battle going on in Minnesota right now to rescind sunday blue laws on liqor stores (yes, we are backwards). I keep hearing liquor store owners in the media saying that they like having that day off and don’t want to open. The on;y problem with that is that rescinding the blue laws would not mandate that they open. They can still close their stores on sundays if they want to. They say they will lose money to competitors on sundays if they don’t open. I say so what. It’s not the government’s job to make sure other people don’t compete with you. Crybabies. ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2011, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-sunday-law-anyone-else-gotten-one-of-these/575073/23 "2011-03-19T15:48:22Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > We’ve got a legislative battle going on in Minnesota right now to rescind sunday blue laws on liqor stores (yes, we are backwards). I keep hearing liquor store owners in the media saying that they like having that day off and don’t want to open. The on;y problem with that is that rescinding the blue laws would not mandate that they open. They can still close their stores on sundays if they want to. They say they will lose money to competitors on sundays if they don’t open. I say so what. It’s not the government’s job to make sure other people don’t compete with you. Crybabies. Connecticut is trying to repeal our liquor blue laws right now and we’re getting the exact same arguments from the package stores. They can do what they want- just don’t make it illegal to be open on Sunday. It was a stupid law to begin with and getting rid of it is long past due. ---
**Author:** ![anya\_marie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ebca7d/32.png) [@anya\_marie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anya_marie)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2011, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-sunday-law-anyone-else-gotten-one-of-these/575073/24 "2011-03-19T16:30:34Z")
If I get one of these in the mail I’m going to see if I can return it to the sender. I’m tired of being lectured by holier than thou types, and am looking forward to burning in hell without them. Rest whatever day you want, and then sit down and shut the fuck up, because if I really wanted to hear this shit, I would take my ass to church. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2011, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-sunday-law-anyone-else-gotten-one-of-these/575073/25 "2011-03-19T17:12:41Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > Upon looking at Wikipedia I found it was written by a Seventh-Day Adventist evangelist who is apparently trying to bulk-mail it to every address in the country. Anybody else gotten one yet? A few years ago I received a bulk-mailed Christian religious pamphlet that included a paper “prayer rug.” Is that what you received, or was the one I received from another evangelical group? ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2011, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-sunday-law-anyone-else-gotten-one-of-these/575073/26 "2011-03-19T20:36:49Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > A few years ago I received a bulk-mailed Christian religious pamphlet that included a paper “prayer rug.” Is that what you received, or was the one I received from another evangelical group? The prayer rug is a different group. I have both. I collect cheezy religious items (like the paper prayer rug) and the writings of the insane (National Sunday Law). NSL is on the web and they also offer a Harry Potterish book condemning magic. ---
**Author:** ![Regallag\_The\_Axe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/regallag_the_axe/32/445_2.png) [@Regallag\_The\_Axe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Regallag_The_Axe)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2011, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-sunday-law-anyone-else-gotten-one-of-these/575073/27 "2011-03-19T21:12:26Z")
> [@congodwarf](#): > > Is it glossy? I hope not. Stuff like that makes good kindling - as long as it’s not glossy. QFT. It’s been a long winter and I’m running out of newspaper. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2011, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-sunday-law-anyone-else-gotten-one-of-these/575073/28 "2011-03-19T22:40:41Z")
> [@congodwarf](#): > > Is it glossy? I hope not. Stuff like that makes good kindling - as long as it’s not glossy. Glossy cover, cheap newsprint on the inside. ---
**Author:** ![Martini\_Enfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/martini_enfield/32/11123_2.png) [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2011, 6:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-sunday-law-anyone-else-gotten-one-of-these/575073/29 "2011-03-20T06:34:02Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > We’ve got a legislative battle going on in Minnesota right now to rescind sunday blue laws on liqor stores (yes, we are backwards). I keep hearing liquor store owners in the media saying that they like having that day off and don’t want to open. The on;y problem with that is that rescinding the blue laws would not mandate that they open. They can still close their stores on sundays if they want to. They say they will lose money to competitors on sundays if they don’t open. I say so what. It’s not the government’s job to make sure other people don’t compete with you. Crybabies. I’m not sure I agree with you- I can certainly see their point. Sure, it’s not the Government’s job to make sure other people don’t compete with you, but on the other hand it’s hardly fair to suddenly change the established rules and disadvantage a lot of people (ie independent stores where Sunday probably _is_ the only day off the owner gets) suddenly. ---
**Author:** ![Raguleader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/258eb7/32.png) [@Raguleader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raguleader)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2011, 6:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-sunday-law-anyone-else-gotten-one-of-these/575073/30 "2011-03-20T06:44:06Z")
I would just like to point out that every Catholic church I’ve ever been to has offered services 7 days a week, not just Sunday. The church I went to for the last couple of years of high school had Sunday services at 8, 9:30, and 11, and Saturday services at 5:30PM I think. But yeah, that’s not really the point of the thread here. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2011, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-sunday-law-anyone-else-gotten-one-of-these/575073/31 "2011-03-20T15:00:13Z")
Was yesterday, Friday March 18, a big 7DA holiday or something? I passed the 7DA church in our area and it.was.packed at 10am. Sunday should be for sleeping in, sex, hangovers and sports. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2011, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-sunday-law-anyone-else-gotten-one-of-these/575073/32 "2011-03-20T15:43:36Z")
Where or when are you that yesterday was Friday? ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2011, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-sunday-law-anyone-else-gotten-one-of-these/575073/33 "2011-03-20T15:50:26Z")
> [@Martini\_Enfield](#): > > I’m not sure I agree with you- I can certainly see their point. Sure, it’s not the Government’s job to make sure other people don’t compete with you, but on the other hand it’s hardly fair to suddenly change the established rules and disadvantage a lot of people (ie independent stores where Sunday probably _is_ the only day off the owner gets) suddenly. What’s not fair about it? All it does is give people more freedom. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2011, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-sunday-law-anyone-else-gotten-one-of-these/575073/34 "2011-03-20T15:55:07Z")
> [@Shirley\_Ujest](#): > > Was yesterday, Friday March 18, a big 7DA holiday or something? > > I passed the 7DA church in our area and it.was.packed at 10am. > > Sunday should be for sleeping in, sex, hangovers and sports. If you were there yesterday, it was saturday, not friday. 7DA’s observe their sabbath on saturday. ---
**Author:** ![minor7flat5](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/minor7flat5/32/258_2.png) [@minor7flat5](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/minor7flat5)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2011, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-sunday-law-anyone-else-gotten-one-of-these/575073/35 "2011-03-20T17:01:20Z")
> [@Sunspace](#): > > I’ve been to a couple of SDA services, and it seems to me that the “Sabbath is on _Saturday!_” thing is the major feature that distinguishes their group from other Christians. Well, they’re also big into “the True Church was hijacked by Roman politicians!”, but I think other Christian groups have that belief. Keep in mind that the SDA church has many of the same issues as other denominations. There are certain distinguishing features that define the line between the SDA church and other Protestant churches, and those details tend to get plenty of airtime. On top of that, any church organization is going to have zealots on the extremes: very conservative folks, such as the woman yesterday who was frowning when she asked my wife if she cooks on the Sabbath, followed by a lecture on not even turning on the microwave during the Sabbath; and very liberal folks who some might feel are turning their church services into a big rock-and-roll party. Day of worship is not the only point of doctrine that defines a Seventh-day Adventist. Another controversial point is the state of the dead. Members of the SDA church believe that when a person dies, they are asleep in the grave until the resurrection. As you can imagine, this does not sit right with people who believe that Grandma is in heaven right now watching them. In twenty years of attending SDA services, I have only noticed a small percentage of sermons (10% or less) that even mention the fundamental beliefs, such as the day of worship or state of the dead, and then usually in passing. This kind of stuff is taken as foundational and already accepted by those who are present. These kinds of topics are more likely to be brought up during the bible study (Sabbath school). The great majority of sermons would sound perfectly normal in any other Protestant church. For example, the past month or so our pastor has been preaching a series of sermons dedicated to raising churchgoers awareness of a responsibility to serve others. I have met several people over the years who were quite focused on the national Sunday law topic and present it in alarmist tones, mentioning current legislation and such. It is difficult to imagine such a law being passed in a secular society which has been moving _away_ from organized religion for the past few decades. Nevertheless, stranger things have happened. When I first entered military training in 1985, if someone had told me that the Berlin Wall was going to come down in 1989, I would have laughed in their face. Their arguments do have basis in SDA doctrine; however I believe that they are taking complex issues for which we have incomplete information available and reducing them to a short sound bite. > [@Shirley\_Ujest](#): > > Was yesterday, Friday March 18, a big 7DA holiday or something? > > I passed the 7DA church in our area and it.was.packed at 10am. > > Sunday should be for sleeping in, sex, hangovers and sports. > [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > If you were there yesterday, it was saturday, not friday. 7DA’s observe their sabbath on saturday. If **Shirley** had driven by our church yesterday, she would have seen that it was, indeed, packed. We had a children’s program from one of the schools, and we were filled to capacity. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2011, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-sunday-law-anyone-else-gotten-one-of-these/575073/36 "2011-03-20T18:10:06Z")
> [@Sunspace](#): > > I’ve been to a couple of SDA services, and it seems to me that the “Sabbath is on _Saturday!_” thing is the major feature that distinguishes their group from other Christians. Well, they’re also big into “the True Church was hijacked by Roman politicians!”, but I think other Christian groups have that belief. > > Maybe the evangelist thinks that someone is somehow going to legislate that church can only happen on Sunday? Oh, it’s the Roman thing is a bit worse with them. I’ve seen tracts saying that the Roman Catholic Church is actually the Antichrist, using some numerology to “prove” it. They claim that the movement of the Sabbath from Saturday to Sunday is the fulfillment of some prophesy or something. And if what I just said is in the OP’s book, then I’ve read it before at my doctor’s office a long time ago. The closest I’ve ever gotten to meeting one was my cult-starting roommate in college, who went to what he thought was SDA church before he started all his nonsense, and thus preached and observed a Saturday Sabbath. ---
**Author:** ![Martini\_Enfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/martini_enfield/32/11123_2.png) [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2011, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-sunday-law-anyone-else-gotten-one-of-these/575073/37 "2011-03-20T23:53:16Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > What’s not fair about it? All it does is give people more freedom. It’s not fair on the the people working in the bottle shops who entered the business/industry on the understanding that _everyone_ would be closed on Sunday, resulting in a level playing field in that regard. FWIW I think “Blue Laws” are a silly idea, so I’m not arguing against them- I’m just trying to say that I can understand why some business owners might like them for reasons that have nothing to do with “religion” and a lot to do with being guaranteed at least one day off in a week. ---
**Author:** ![Count\_Blucher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Count\_Blucher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Count_Blucher)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2011, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-sunday-law-anyone-else-gotten-one-of-these/575073/38 "2011-03-21T00:18:48Z")
> [@swampbear](#): > > Now you know batshit craziness tends to ignore those pesky little details. 😃 Why, that’s not “National Sunday Law”. That’s the BatShignal…! 😛 ---
**Author:** ![UltraVires](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecccb3/32.png) [@UltraVires](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UltraVires)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2011, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-sunday-law-anyone-else-gotten-one-of-these/575073/39 "2011-03-21T01:32:33Z")
I hate to agree with Dio, but is there any rational basis at all for a state to close alcohol sales on Sunday/Sunday morning? I know the whole secular day of rest thing, but with very little exceptions, everything else is open anyways. Who is “resting”? Grocery stores and liquor package stores are still open selling food and/or beer, just the liquor department is closed. What is the point? ---
**Author:** ![TravisFromOR](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/cc9497/32.png) [@TravisFromOR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TravisFromOR)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2011, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-sunday-law-anyone-else-gotten-one-of-these/575073/40 "2011-03-21T03:26:47Z")
That’s the “free” book that was left on every car in my Church’s parking lot a year or so ago. I laughed at it–silly waste of dead trees, if you ask me. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-sunday-law-anyone-else-gotten-one-of-these/575073.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-sunday-law-anyone-else-gotten-one-of-these/575073.md?page=3)