MercatorNet is an Australia-based publication that is directed by a Roman Catholic editor. [1] They have adopted the widely shared belief that the repeal of the Blue Laws has led to death and despair. There are forces at work to inflame public interest and excitement about Sunday laws. There are forces at play that aim to spark public excitement and interest in Sunday laws. And here we have another group of journalists who are reiterating this call right now. On January 18, 2023, MercatorNet published an article titled “Gimme that old time religion: Did it Protect Americans from Deaths of Despair?” in which it stated that the repeal of the Blue Laws caused people to die early.
The following was published by MercatorNet:
“The dechristianization of society is hard to assess and harder to predict. But we can ask: is this good news or bad news? According to a research paper released last week by the National Bureau of Economic Research, a prominent think tank in Cambridge, Massachusetts, it is bad news. It is, in fact, literally deadly.” [2]
“In an original and thought-provoking use of statistics, the researchers examined deaths of despair after American states repealed their ‘blue laws’. These were laws which banned commerce on Sundays so that people could observe the Sabbath by attending church services and spending more time with their families. Regulations varied from state to state, but typically the sale of alcohol was restricted or banned and department stores were closed. Many of the repeals took place in the 1980s.” [2]
“What happened as a result? They report that: We find that for middle-aged Americans, the repeal of blue laws had a 5- to 10-percentage-point impact on weekly attendance of religious services and increased the rate of deaths of despair by 2 deaths per 100,000 people. Applying these results to the decline in religion at the end of the century suggests that this decline could be responsible for a reasonably large share of the initial rise in deaths of despair.” [2]
“Those who applaud the decline of religion in the public square in the US should be careful what they wish for. Church attendance protects some vulnerable people from social isolation, introversion, alienation and even death.” [2]
“The law of unintended consequences is always at work. We have all experienced this with the Covid lockdowns. Back in the 1980s, repealing the blue laws was meant to make life more convenient. For most people, it did. But for an unlucky few, it turned their lives upside down. It even killed them.” [2]
There you have it. Repealing the Blue Laws has killed people. It has brought despair, turned lives upside down, caused church attendance to decline, and led to social isolation, alienation, and death. This situation is threatening everyone on the planet. For those who are alive today, death and despair are an inescapable truth, we are being told. We are on the road to extinction. Until we bring back Sunday rest by law, society will continue to deteriorate, and more people will die in despair.
This is not the rambling of a small group of people. This is being promoted by the so-called experts, and the media is disseminating their argument all over the world. In fact, inspiration predicts that this is what will happen in these last days:
“Satan will do the evil deeds he has long wished to do. Storm and tempest, war and bloodshed,—in these things he delights, and thus he gathers in his harvest. And so completely will men be deceived by him that they will declare that these calamities are the result of the desecration of the first day of the week. From the pulpits of the popular churches will be heard the statement that the world is being punished because Sunday is not honored as it should be. And it will require no great stretch of imagination for men to believe this. They are guided by the enemy, and therefore they reach conclusions which are entirely false” (Review and Herald, September 17, 1901).
I hope that every Seventh-day Adventist is conscious of what is going on in the world. Only one question remains: “How long before Sunday laws are passed, especially since all the arguments are being made public today?” We don’t have time to lose. Every effort must be made to clear up the lies and exalt the true Sabbath of the Lord. May God give us the strength to accomplish His will while the lines of communication are still open.
Sources
[1] https://mercatornet.com/our-ideals/
[2] https://mercatornet.com/does-religion-protect-americans-from-deaths-of-despair/82681/
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It’s as if one can smell the sunday coming. Good Lord Jesus prepare us to be your sanctuary. Let’s not wait in idle expectation as if we are without purpose. If all you can do is get this article out then get it out. Lead on O King Eternal.
“Put yourselves in array against Babylon round about: all ye that bend the bow, shoot at her, spare no arrows: for she hath sinned against the Lord.” Jeremiah 50:14.
If you save those ‘arrows’ for later by then they will be brittle and of no use. Use them now.
Blue laws compel people’s conduct on Sunday, a day that God calls a working day.
Despite the fact that the Bible does not endorse Sunday as the Sabbath or the unfavorable effects that Blue laws would have, they firmly think that they are in the right.