# Religious basis for regulation of times for purchasing alcohol? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 3, 2011, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/religious-basis-for-regulation-of-times-for-purchasing-alcohol/598449 "2011-10-03T17:09:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Apollyon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/apollyon/32/4238_2.png) [@Apollyon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Apollyon)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2011, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/religious-basis-for-regulation-of-times-for-purchasing-alcohol/598449/21 "2011-10-05T20:40:08Z")
> [@Mama\_Zappa](#): > > :::snerk::: - I should have read yours before posting mine - saying the EXACT SAME THING :D. 🙂 I do find it interesting that the NZ example I was referencing was nearly 40 years ago while you say that in parts of NJ this is still the case. ---
**Author:** ![GameHat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ed655f/32.png) [@GameHat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GameHat)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2011, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/religious-basis-for-regulation-of-times-for-purchasing-alcohol/598449/22 "2011-10-06T02:07:50Z")
> [@fiddlesticks](#): > > (Parts of) Wisconsin has sort of an anti-blue law that stops liquor/beer sales at grocery/liquor stores at 9pm. Want to drink after then? Support your local member of the Wisconsin Tavern League, who love that little law. Gah, I grew up in Madison and went to school at the UW there (early 2000s), we all hated that law. And IIRC, bar-time in Madison was 2AM. If anything, it made us all binge drink more (which for Wisconsinites is a lot). “Oh shit, the bar closes in half an hour and we’ve got nothing back at the apartment. Whelp, line me up four shots, bartender! I need this buzz to last for three more hours!” ---
**Author:** ![Silver\_Tyger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/fbc32d/32.png) [@Silver\_Tyger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silver_Tyger)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2011, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/religious-basis-for-regulation-of-times-for-purchasing-alcohol/598449/23 "2011-10-06T15:51:04Z")
> [@Apollyon](#): > > My parents ran a “Four Square” dairy (US: 7-11) back when NZ had similar Sunday trading laws. There was a section of the dairy that was curtained off on Sundays that contained such blasphemous things as cleaning products (who knows why…) Because you’re not supposed to work on Sunday and cleaning is work. (I love teasing my Mom about things like this. Mom: ‘I really want to get more done today.’ Me: ‘But it’s Sunday! You’re supposed to rest!’ Mom: ‘Well, but…’) ---
**Author:** ![OldGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/3bc359/32.png) [@OldGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OldGuy)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2011, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/religious-basis-for-regulation-of-times-for-purchasing-alcohol/598449/24 "2011-10-06T15:55:21Z")
> [@Silver Tyger Girl](#): > > Because you’re not supposed to work on Sunday and cleaning is work. Of course given that the store is open and the clerks are working, this argument seems to lose a bit. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2011, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/religious-basis-for-regulation-of-times-for-purchasing-alcohol/598449/25 "2011-10-06T17:28:05Z")
> [@bonitahi](#): > > You “don’t want people skipping church to go buy beer and wine, now do you?” > > You say that as if it is a bad thing. You could always go Catholic and get your booze in church. 😉 Here in PA, all of our liquor stores are government run – it’s been that way since Prohibition ended. Some are open on Sunday, depending on where you live. (The laws are so tangled up it’s impossible to describe them here – it’s a big pain in the ass) People have been trying to end the system for ages, and while there has been SOME movement in selling beer and wine in supermarkets, it’s been slow going. ---
**Author:** ![Silver\_Tyger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/fbc32d/32.png) [@Silver\_Tyger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silver_Tyger)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2011, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/religious-basis-for-regulation-of-times-for-purchasing-alcohol/598449/26 "2011-10-06T18:29:17Z")
> [@OldGuy](#): > > Of course given that the store is open and the clerks are working, this argument seems to lose a bit. I think the whole thing is ridiculous. Playing devil’s advocate however, the clerks could be Jewish (and thus rest on Saturday) or another religion where the day of rest is not Sunday. (But I wouldn’t bet on it.) I had an idea last Christmas, that there should be a temp agency where they keep track of what holidays you celebrate so people who want to celebrate Christmas or Yom Kippur or whatever _not_ at work could go home and the people who don’t would. It would never happen… but… ---
**Author:** ![md2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@md2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md2000)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2011, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/religious-basis-for-regulation-of-times-for-purchasing-alcohol/598449/27 "2011-10-06T19:47:09Z")
Much of Canada had “blue laws”. We still have in many provinces, that shops can only be open 12-6 on Sunday. A lot of that is only about 20 years old, before that only small convenience stores, gas stations, etc. could be open. Of course, a lot of this is the same puritan mentality that dislikes alcohol, dancing, partying and having a good time in general. If it’s fun, it must be evil. Therefore, anything the state could do to thwart the evil tendencies of the great unwashed must, by necessity, be doing God’s work. IIRC Ontario had some proposal at one time that if you were Jewish and objected to Sunday closes, your store could be open Sunday but had to be closed Saturday - thereby guaranteeing nobody asked for a Sunday opening. i don’t think that change made it into law. Oddly enough, I think Canadian laws changed because merchants were upset from pressure south of the border. If you couldn’t shop in Toronto on SUnday, you could drive an hour or so to Buffalo or Niagara Falls an shop all you wanted. The unions and such also supported Sunday closings because “think of the children”, people should not have to work Sundays and lose quality time with their families. As someone who worked in non-retail every Sunday in college, the hypocrisy of this position was not lost on me. ---
**Author:** ![UltraVires](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecccb3/32.png) [@UltraVires](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UltraVires)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2011, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/religious-basis-for-regulation-of-times-for-purchasing-alcohol/598449/28 "2011-10-06T20:07:23Z")
I understand the secular purpose of a day of rest and that was the reason that SCOTUS has upheld them. But to limit it simply to alcohol doesn’t have a rational basis. The supermarket clerk is working whether I buy apples or beer, pasta sauce or wine. And the whole “take a break in drinking” doesn’t fly for me either because it is both over and under inclusive. It stops people like the OP from buying a bottle of wine on his weekly trip to the supermarket and does nothing to prevent the drunk from buying a pallet of whiskey on Saturday night. I live in WV and had forgotten about the rule. I went to BW3s to watch the Steelers last weekend. I sit down at 12:45. You guessed it. No beer until 1pm. At 12:55 the bartender started pouring and when the clock struck 1 and the kickoffs began, the waitresses started serving. The law makes no sense. Time for a fresh court challenge. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2011, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/religious-basis-for-regulation-of-times-for-purchasing-alcohol/598449/29 "2011-10-07T01:34:02Z")
> [@LawMonkey](#): > > …Libertarian that I am, I am generally inclined to let everyone go to hell in their own way… Thanks for this. Having deep discussions with guys at church, and as a Libertarian Existential Cynical Christian, I think I’m confusing them. This’ll explain my position on a number of the issues we were talking about. (Debating liquor laws over homebrews… priceless!) ---
**Author:** ![UltraVires](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecccb3/32.png) [@UltraVires](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UltraVires)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2011, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/religious-basis-for-regulation-of-times-for-purchasing-alcohol/598449/30 "2011-10-07T19:13:42Z")
On a related note, WV repealed its overall blue law in 2010. The law basically read: Sec 1 NO BUSINESS AT ALL ON SUNDAY, EVER, EVER, EVER! WITH NO EXCEPTIONS! Sec 2 Except these things: (a list of every possible business imaginable EXCEPT alcohol sales). The same bill also repealed our laws against adultery, fornication, living together before marriage, and unmarried couples acting in a “lascivious” manner in public. The world is going to hell, I tells ya! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/religious-basis-for-regulation-of-times-for-purchasing-alcohol/598449.md?page=1)