# no alcohol for bible belters **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [March 23, 2002, 8:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-alcohol-for-bible-belters/99693 "2002-03-23T08:26:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![ElwoodCuse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/edb3f5/32.png) [@ElwoodCuse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElwoodCuse)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2002, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-alcohol-for-bible-belters/99693/41 "2002-03-26T04:08:53Z")
**CJ** , as a Pennsylvanian I feel your pain. I go to school in New York and you can get as little or as much beer you want in the grocery store except from 2 am to 8 am weekdays and 2 am until noon on Sundays. Here’s another thing that baffled me about Pennsylvania. I went to a couple different distributors across the state, and cases of beer cost upwards of $5 more than in New York (ex. 24-pack Labatt’s–12oz bottles–PA 20.99, NY 14.99). What gives? Tax? ---
**Author:** ![mrblue92](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@mrblue92](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mrblue92)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2002, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-alcohol-for-bible-belters/99693/42 "2002-03-26T04:40:53Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Munch \* > I see no element of establishing or endorsing a religion in blue laws, nor do I see a burden being placed on any particular religion. Just because most blue laws originated from religious people trying to force _morality_ on others doesn’t mean that blue laws originated from relgious people trying to force _religion_ on others. IANAL… is there a legal distinction when the morality in question seems to spring only from religion? > [@](#): > > Do I agree with blue laws? No. Do I think there is a secular purpose for them? No, but you could construe one - same as you could construe a public interest for Prohibition. I think the Supreme Court would throw any case out, as the federal government wouldn’t have any jurisdiction on a clear state matter. I should have been more clear–banning alcohol sales in a certain jurisdiction altogether could be construed as in the public interest; certainly that’s a local issue. However, how can the same be said for banning sales from 2 a.m. to 12 p.m. on only Sundays (as a theoretical example) in a predominately Christian community? How is that in anyone’s interest but the hardest of the hard-core conservatives who want everyone to conform? It’s not that I personally want to spend my Sundays on the bottle, but it sure _seems_ like establishment of religion to me… guess I’m just curious how the Dopers feel, but I’m not sure it warrants a GD thread. ---
**Author:** ![mrblue92](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@mrblue92](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mrblue92)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2002, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-alcohol-for-bible-belters/99693/43 "2002-03-26T04:54:02Z")
I should also point out that I understand why it might be in a community’s interest to make sales illegal every night from, say, 2 a.m. to 9 a.m.–one could make the argument that the value of a sober workforce is vital to the area’s economic well-being and health. But singling out Sundays makes no secular sense to me, especially when a great many people have the day off to begin with. ---
**Author:** ![Zoff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/6de8d8/32.png) [@Zoff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoff)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2002, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-alcohol-for-bible-belters/99693/44 "2002-03-26T14:06:43Z")
> [@](#): > > _Originally posted by mrblue92_ > It’s not that I personally want to spend my Sundays on the bottle, but it sure _seems_ like establishment of religion to me… guess I’m just curious how the Dopers feel, but I’m not sure it warrants a GD thread. One thing to remember is that the restrictions on selling alcohol on Sundays are not always based on the old blue laws. The Virginia Supreme Court struck down Virginia’s blue laws. It held that since the legislature had passed so many exemptions to the law, it was no longer a law of general application. Virginia still restricts alcohol sales but does so, I suspect, based on a public welfare & safety rationale. The US Supreme Court has ruled that blue laws are generally constitutional. They heard two challenges to blue laws in 1961 and upheld the constitutionality of the laws in both cases. In [_McGowan v. Maryland_](http://laws.findlaw.com/us/366/420.html) the Court basically held that blue laws have significant secular purposes (a day of rest and recreation) even though they began as religious ideas. The dissent makes some arguments that will appeal to many posters. But, alas, it is the dissent. The other case is [_Braunfeld v. Brown_](http://laws.findlaw.com/us/366/599.html), but the issue in that one is a little different than what we’re discussing. ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2002, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-alcohol-for-bible-belters/99693/45 "2002-03-26T14:27:05Z")
**Zoff** is smart. ---
**Author:** ![Zoff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/6de8d8/32.png) [@Zoff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoff)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2002, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-alcohol-for-bible-belters/99693/46 "2002-03-26T20:40:53Z")
I’m forwarding your post to my wife, **Munch**. Maybe now I’ll start getting the respect I so richly deserve! ---
**Author:** ![mrblue92](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@mrblue92](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mrblue92)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2002, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-alcohol-for-bible-belters/99693/47 "2002-03-26T21:05:15Z")
Thanks **Zoff**. You are a gentleman and a scholar. Or, at the very least, a most useful mammal. 😉 It’s sad everyone couldn’t see how silly some of these laws were in the first place. “They were indicted for the Sunday sale of a three-ring loose-leaf binder, a can of floor wax, a stapler and staples, and a toy submarine in violation of Md. Ann. Code. Art. 27, 521.” Truly these are criminals of the lowest character! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-alcohol-for-bible-belters/99693.md?page=2)