Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Alcohol Sales on Sundays

CNN today reported that there are only three states don't allow package sales of liquor on Sundays. I know that one of these states is Indiana, because I live here. (Of course, you can go to certain restaurants or sporting events on a Sunday, down as much alcohol as you can, and drive home, but you cannot buy it in a liquor or other store, take it home and drink it, then go to bed without endangering anyone on the roads--but that is hypocrisy on the part of Indiana's General Assembly that we won't get into today).

What caught my attention was one of the final statements of the report; it went something along the lines of this: Christian groups are against the remaining states legalizing the sales of alcohol in Sundays, viewing it as an attack on the Christian Sabbath. If this is truly the case, then I have the following questions:
  1. Why haven't I heard about these Christian groups fighting to outlaw sales in the 47 states that do allow it on Sundays? I live almost on the Indiana/Michigan border, and I haven't heard anything about movements to get Michigan to change its laws.
  2. If we need to protect the Christian Sabbath, do we not also need to protect the Jewish Sabbath? That would outlaw alcohol sales on Saturdays (which would also protect the Sabbath for Seventh-Day Adventists). What about the holy month of Ramadan for Muslims? Any other Sabbaths we need to protect?
I am not meaning to be mean-spirited toward Christians--I am one. However, I do tire of the far-right's unceasing attempts to force their version of morality on people who choose not to believe as they do. This is a country of multiple religions--and, if one chooses, of no religion. Let us keep that in mind when forging--and not forcing-- legislation.

1 comment:

Jo Nicholson said...

Freedom of religion freedom from religion...RIGHT ON! I like your blog. (That is a strange sentence...)