Conservative Evangelicals Claim that the Repeal of Sunday Laws in America has Caused a Breakdown in our Social Fabric

“And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon.” Revelation 13:11.

Breakpoint is the official news outlet of the Colson Center, a Christian think tank organization founded by conservative Evangelical leader Chuck Colson with the goal of advancing social conservatism. On September 10, 2022, the Colson Center commented on the ongoing discourse regarding the repeal of Sunday laws in America and the ensuing moral decline of our culture. [2] [3] The Colson Center argues that the repeal of Sunday laws in our nation has caused a “damaging” loss to “the social fabric of communities in general.” They recently published the following:

“Of course, ‘lowering religious participation’ was always the intent and purpose of repealing Sunday Closing laws, and this all negatively confirms that law is a teacher, and sometimes teaches what is false and demonstrably bad for a people. The activists who sought, in their hatred of Christianity, to repeal such laws, and the legislators and justices who did the repealing, failed to foresee how damaging the loss of such laws would be on ‘the social fabric of communities generally.’ Among their findings is that the loss of blue laws depressed religious participation, and that this in turn made very significant portion of the population unstable, lacking the strength of ‘religiosity,’ unable to deal with ‘enormous negative shocks’ such as large-scale wars and natural disasters—which is to say, unable to deal with suffering.” [3]

This is a fulfillment of what we read in the book, the Great Controversy:

“Yet this very class put forth the claim that the fast-spreading corruption is largely attributable to the desecration of the so-called ‘Christian sabbath,’ and that the enforcement of Sunday observance would greatly improve the morals of society. This claim is especially urged in America, where the doctrine of the true Sabbath has been most widely preached. Here the temperance work, one of the most prominent and important of moral reforms, is often combined with the Sunday movement, and the advocates of the latter represent themselves as laboring to promote the highest interest of society” (Great Controversy, p. 586).

Everyone is advocating for Sunday rest: conservatives, liberals, Christians, Muslims, agnostics, politicians, governments, economists, environmentalists, labor unions, businesses, social organizations, and members from all over the private and public sectors. The demand for Sunday closing by law will only grow louder in the coming days ahead. The case for mandating a Sunday work stoppage by law comes from a variety of sources, not just one. The need to support the family, safeguard the environment, give workers a day off, and participate in Eucharistic mass worship services are just a few of the justifications for resting on Sundays.

However, Sunday is not the answer to the current moral crisis, regardless of how much they argue, how much is written, or even if the majority believe this. According to Bible prophecy, Sunday rest by law will play a significant role in the end times, but not in the way that the world perceives it:

“That institution (Saturday) which points to God as the Creator is a sign of his rightful authority over the beings he has made. The change of the Sabbath (Sunday) is the sign, or mark, of the authority of the Romish Church. Those who, understanding the claims of the fourth commandment, choose to observe the false in place of the true Sabbath, are thereby paying homage to that power by which alone it is commanded. The change in the fourth commandment is the change pointed out in the prophecy, and the keeping of the counterfeit Sabbath is the reception of the mark … The test upon this question does not come until Sunday observance is enforced by law, and the world is enlightened concerning the obligation of the true Sabbath (Saturday, the seventh-day). Not until the issue is thus plainly set before the people, and they are brought to choose between the commandments of God and the commandments of men, will those who continue in transgression receive the mark of the beast” (Spirit of Prophecy, Vol. 4, p. 281).

“Many professing Christians of today are closing their hearts and minds … In place of the rest day given them by Jehovah (Saturday), they accept a counterfeit Sabbath (Sunday); they worship an idol, and transgress God’s holy law in trampling upon the Sabbath which He has instituted and blessed” (Bible Echo, October 12, 1896).

“If the light of truth has been presented to you, revealing the Sabbath of the fourth commandment, and showing that there is no foundation in the word of God for Sunday observance, and yet you still cling to the false Sabbath, refusing to keep holy the Sabbath which God calls “My holy day,” you receive the mark of the beast” (Review and Herald, July 13, 1897).

“Whoever shall transgress the command of God, to obey a precept which has no higher authority than that of Rome, will thereby honor popery above God. He is paying homage to Rome, and to the power which enforces the institution ordained by Rome. He is worshiping the beast and his image. As men then reject the institution which God has declared to be the sign of his authority, and honor in its stead that which Rome has chosen as the token of her supremacy, they will thereby accept the sign of allegiance to Rome—“the mark of the beast.” (Great Controversy, p. 449).

Sources

[1] https://postliberalorder.substack.com/p/to-reverse-our-despair?r=1fvu9&s=w&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&utm_source=direct

[2] https://www.neh.gov/humanities/2015/julyaugust/feature/fighting-the-right-party-sundays

[3] https://breakpoint.org/the-death-of-queen-elizabeth-ii-blue-laws-and-despair-and-false-narratives-about-the-religious-right/