Sunday / Sabbath Laws

[JoeyKnothead]

Examples of religious based laws in the cities and state of Georgia:

From Dumb Laws.

Columbus

Sec. 14-60.3. Same--Prohibited on Sunday or Sabbath days. It shall be unlawful for any person, individual or firm to conduct the business of tattooing or marking or coloring the skin by pricking in coloring matter so as to form marks or figures or scars on any portion of the body of any individual on Sunday or the Sabbath days. (Ord. No. 57-72, 3)

Columbus

Sec. 14-8. Barber shops; Sunday closing. It shall be unlawful for any barber shop to be kept open or do any business on the Sabbath day. (Code 1914, 798)

Columbus
Mentioned but not cited

It is illegal for stores to sell corn flakes on Sunday.

Cant cut off a chickens head on Sunday.

It is illegal to carry a chicken by its feet down Broadway on Sunday.

Roswell

Section 4.2.1 Erotic dance establishment regulations.
...No licensee shall permit his place of business to be open on Sundays.

I'm interested to see the blue laws in other areas, feel free to contribute.

For debate:

Do these laws represent a tyranny of the majority over the minority?

[McCulloch]

In Canada, the Lord's Day Act, passed in 1906, prevented business transactions from taking place on Sundays. The constitutionality of this act was questioned in the case of R. v. Big M Drug Mart Ltd. A provincial court ruled that the Lord's Day Act was unconstitutional, but the Crown proceeded to appeal all the way to the Supreme Court of Canada. In a unanimous 6-0 decision, the Lord's Day Act was ruled as an infringement of the freedom of conscience and religion defined in section 2(a) of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The Lord's Day Act was the first law in Charter jurisprudence to be struck down in its entirety.

Personally, I agree with our constitution and with the interpretation of it by our Supreme Court in this case. Sunday closing laws are a violation of my religious freedom.

Until 2006, in much of southern Ontario, it was illegal to hunt using a firearm on Sundays. In Florida, a law prohibits unmarried women from parachuting on Sunday. Dominoes may not be played on Sunday in Alabama. It is illegal to fish for whales on Sunday in Ohio (not that there are many whales in Ohio). Cicero, Illinois, prohibits humming on public streets on Sundays.

[FinalEnigma]

in vermont:

It is illegal to deny the existence of God.


I wonder what the secular basis for that law is?

[Miles]

" . . .early blue laws prohibited work, travel, recreation, and activities such as cooking, shaving, cutting hair, wearing either lace or precious metals, sweeping, making beds, kissing, and engaging in sexual intercourse. The Puritans believed that a child was born on the same day of the week on which it was conceived. Therefore, the parents of children born on a Sunday were punished for violating the blue law nine months earlier.

Blue laws have operated to protect Christian business owners from competition on their sabbath. However, they dont protect those (such as Jews and Muslims) whose sabbath is Saturday from competition on their sabbath. Thus blue laws have established a double standard in favor of Christians."

source

[JoeyKnothead]

I'm curious to see if anyone will attempt to defend such laws.

Here in Georgia, our Governor went so far as to declare that Sunday alcohol prohibitions "teach time management", and so should remain in effect.

[Jayhawker Soule]

I'm curious to see if anyone will attempt to defend such laws.

I'm curious to know why you're so invested in ridiculing religion. Does it help you convince yourself that you're smarter or more sophisticated than others? Why is that important to you?

[JoeyKnothead]

From Post 6:

I'm curious to see if anyone will attempt to defend such laws.

I'm curious to know why you're so invested in ridiculing religion.

Because it is too often used as a tool for the oppression of others.

If folks wouldn't base ridiculous laws on their religion, I'd have no ridiculous religious laws to ridicule, would I?

Does it help you convince yourself that you're smarter or more sophisticated than others?

Why heck no, I got them eight years of school to convince me of that.

You do know I'm Co-Avatar Of The Year for 2008, dontcha?

Why is that important to you?

Because I don't like seeing folks being oppressed in the name of a god that can't be shown to exist.

Now that we've got that all sorted out, would you care to comment on the OP?

[Jayhawker Soule]

..., would you care to comment on the OP?

Sure: it's petty and juvenile.

By the way, how do you feel about the oppressive secular laws cropping up in places like France and Switzerland?

[JoeyKnothead]

..., would you care to comment on the OP?

Sure: it's petty and juvenile.

Is insulting others part of your religious training, or do you come by it naturally?

By the way, how do you feel about the oppressive secular laws cropping up in places like France and Switzerland?

I don't like any overly oppressive laws (all are ultimately oppressive to a degree), secular or not.

But I don't call folks who criticize such to be petty and juvenile.

[Jayhawker Soule]

But I don't call folks who criticize such to be petty and juvenile.

That is a good thing, since many who criticize frivolous and/or oppressive laws do so with something other than petty and juvenile intent. Yours strikes me as more akin to an adolescent desire to ridicule. I merely assumed that you would be open to the same treatment. I was apparently wrong -- sorry.