The issue is Sunday shopping and whether or not it should be curtailed or allowed to continue. Sunday shopping has been legislated against at various times in our history with so-called "blue laws" that prevented stores from opening or that were directed only at certain types of goods which could not be sold on Sunday. However, over time most of these laws have been eliminated in the face of the greater secularization of society and in support of the promotion of the economic benefits accruing from a seven-day shopping cycle. The question of Sunday shopping can be considered form a variety of points of view on both sides. The basic issue is whether or not Sunday shopping should be banned, and arguments pro and con will be considered.
Those who oppose Sunday shopping offer both an argument based on morality and an argument based on economics. The moral argument derives first in the Christian view from the Creation story in Genesis, for after God created the world he rested on the seventh day. The seventh day is viewed as the Sabbath, the day when God is to be worshipped and when the suppliants are to follow God's example and rest themselves. The religious have long interpreted this as meaning that there should be no commerce on the Lord's Day.
This argument can be countered on a number of points. For one thing, it is a strictly Christian conception, and this is a nation that is made up of a number of different religions. The Jewish faith has its holy day on Saturday, and those who are strict about their religion and about the sanctity of this day do not conduct business for a period of time over this day. This would mean no shopping on Saturday. One Christian sect, the Seventh-Day Adventists, also keep Saturday sacred instead of Sunday. Non-Judeo-Christian religions may have different days that they would have as holy and where they might prefer there be no commerce. For the Orthodox Jewish religious community to upho...