If the ACLU was serious about the establishment clause
Spring Hill aldermen are facing a decision over whether to go after do-it-yourself enthusiasts who violate an ordinance banning construction work on Sundays.
According to city code in this Nashville suburb, no construction work of any kind can be done on Sundays. Spring Hill aldermen are now debating just how strict that ordinance is.
And why you may ask:
“What about Seventh-day Adventists?” Alderman Charles Raines said. “They go to church on Saturday.”
On Sunday, you should be in church, you Godless heathen. That, for example, is why you can’t buy booze on Sunday in my hometown. If the ACLU wanted an establishment case folks would get behind, this is it.
October 18th, 2005 at 12:08 pm
In supposedly secular Massachusetts, you can’t hunt on Sunday. I wonder if the ACLU would take a case challenging that.
October 18th, 2005 at 2:34 pm
It may have changed by now, but years ago one could not buy alcohol on Sunday in Massachusetts.
I have close (though officially severed) ties to the Seventh-day Adventist community, so I know full well that they are opposed to ordinances such as this (but alas, when they get to run the show, as in Collegedale, TN, some of them get up in arms if there is, say, garbage collection on a Saturday).
Religious freedom has always been big in the SDA denomination. For one thing, they have traditionally taught that the End of Time™ will be brought about by apostate Christianity* merging with civil government and imposing a national Sunday law (complete with death-penalty consequences if it’s broken).
(*apostate, that is, in their view — but you’ve gotta think that some of them are quite skeptical of the GWB government)
So, now that I’m a secular heathen, I defend the separation of church and state from two perspectives, because I can see the SDAs’ point, even if I disagree with its origins. Not to mention the Jews’, the Muslims’, and anybody else’s who isn’t a mainstream Christian.
October 19th, 2005 at 3:21 pm
Uncle:
They may yet, although I’d expect AU would be more likely to do so.