Should Christians Have to Work on the Sabbath?

Several branches of government seem to get their way even with the most morally outrageous cases.   Look at taxpayer-funded agencies such as the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission or the Human Relations Commission, for example.  High-sounding politically correct titles, to be sure, but they operate almost gangster-style through fear and intimidation.

     Ask grocer Don Turner in Rapid City, South Dakota, who was recently forced to pay a $50,000 fine because he fired a transgender employee who was getting increasingly “in your face” with customers about flaunting traditional mores.  The real legal intention was to cow other business people into not policing wayward behavior in their employees.  Let them dress however outlandishly and maintain any antisocial attitude, these commissions seem to say.

     Meanwhile, millions of Christians and Jews across America are forced to work on Sundays, despite one of the Ten Commandments clearly stating that we should “Remember the Sabbath and keep it holy.”  Sure, if the public wants businesses open on Sundays, then someone has to work.  Right?

     The solution is simple.  Managers should assign atheists and secular people to work on Sundays and religious holidays.  Indians sometimes have to prove they are really Indians to enjoy certain welfare benefits, by being officially enrolled in a tribe, for example.   Likewise, Christians who want to be exempt from working on Sundays can easily have a pastor or priest sign off on the fact that a particular individual is considered a member in good standing, regularly attending church.

     Perhaps EEOC-type protections might seem more valid if managers aren’t able to screen out Christians in advance, or fire them after hiring, when Sabbath exemption is sought.