Another Major Conservative Publisher Claims that the Repeal of Blue Laws led to a Decline in Church Attendance as well as to Death and Despair

Epoch Media Group is a conservative international media company that is very popular among evangelical Christians. Their premier publication is called The Epoch Times and is published in 21 languages and 33 countries. [1] On January 3, 2023, The Epoch Times reinforced and amplified a 2022 study that made a link between the repeal of the Blue Laws, Sunday rest by force, and the increase in death and despair.

The Epoch Times published the following in an article titled “Does Religion Prevent Despair.” The article said in part:

“A trio of economists has tied the rise in death and despair to the decline in religious practice in America.” [2]

“The recent dramatic increase in ‘deaths of despair,’ suicides, fatal drug overdoses, and deaths due to alcoholism, is directly connected to the decline in organized religion in the United States—and to the repeal of ‘blue laws’ that once prohibited some commerce on Sundays in observance of the Christian Sabbath. This is according to a 2022 study by economists Tyler Giles, Daniel Hungerman, and Tamar Oostrom called “Opiates of the Masses: Deaths of Despair and the Decline of American Religion.” [2]

“When centuries-old blue laws—enacted initially to preserve the Christian Sabbath as a day of rest—were repealed, businesses were permitted to remain open on Sundays. As a result, participation in religious services fell. Using graphical analysis and difference-in-differences methods, the economists were able to map a direct connection between the repeal of these laws and the increase in deaths of despair.” [2]

“Blue laws are still on the books in only 28 states, and most of them prohibit only alcohol sales during limited hours. A very small number of counties also prohibit car sales and hunting on Sundays, but for most of the United States, Sunday blue laws are a thing of the past, and the concept of strictly observing a day of rest for religious reasons is now foreign to most Americans.” [2]

“Although 77 percent of churchgoing Protestant Christians say they observe Sunday as a day of rest, only a small number of them refrain from shopping or attending entertainment events, according to a survey by Lifeway Research. One-third report avoiding paid work.” [2]

“Americans are a privileged society [in which] people often enjoy two days off a week. For many, this may make observing a Sabbath day something many churchgoers don’t give much thought to,” Scott McConnell, executive director of Lifeway Research, said in a statement. [2]

“Today, however, we see blue laws being repealed and most businesses open seven days a week. U.S. Postal Service trucks are now out delivering packages on Sunday. Taking a Sabbath may be something people have to become even more intentional about.” [2]

Here we have another member of the media advocating the idea that when Sunday rest laws were enforced by the government, these acts were for the public good. However, what makes The Epoch Times’ claim even more egregious is that they claim that science has already proven this to be a fact. They assert that the economists were able to establish a direct connection between the repeal of Sunday laws and death and despair. They are essentially saying that if we want to reduce death, suicide, stress, and despair, Sunday laws are the answer, and we now have the science to back it up.

The advocates of Sunday laws are not just clamoring that Sunday should be a day of rest; they want to see it as a day of worship. The Epoch Times’ article highlights the fact that the repeal of the blue laws caused religious services on that day to be diminished. According to Revelation 13, Sunday laws will be used to enforce the worship of the beast during the Mark of the Beast crisis. So this really means that the enforcement of Sunday by law cannot be for the good of society but for its destruction, because worship is something that can never be forced on anyone. People must agree to practice faith on their own free will.

“And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed. And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.” Revelation 13:15-17.

We must reject forced or coerced conversions. Faithful ministers must preach against Sunday laws and all religious legislation in general, just as they should speak out against any other kind of hypocrisy and formalism. The true gospel of Jesus Christ knows of no other method of reaching people than by the converting power of the Holy Spirit. When the state enforces worship, what they are really doing is forcing people to have “a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof” (2 Timothy 3:5). True godliness can only be attained through the work of the Holy Spirit on the heart. Hypocrisy, formality, and outward conformity are the results of force. And we will not be true preachers of the gospel unless we speak out against these abuses.

Sources

[1] https://www.codastory.com/disinformation/epoch-times/

[2] https://www.theepochtimes.com/health/does-religion-prevent-despair_4935387.html