On February 7, 2026, the day before Super Bowl LV, the Marietta Times published an article claiming that Sunday sports are a form of Baal worship that prevents people from attending church. The article also spoke favorably of the era when Blue Laws restricted commerce on Sundays in order to make room for worship and argued that their absence has contributed to declining church attendance. In doing so, the Marietta Times is promoting the same growing narrative that argues that church attendance is declining due to the abundance of activities available on Sundays.
The article expressed the following:
• “Today, a multitude of activities compete with church attendance. Just 50 or 60 years ago, most businesses closed on Sunday because of ‘Blue Laws,’ sometimes called ‘Sunday closing laws,’ that regulated activities in deference to religious traditions that designated Sunday as a day of worship. But for many stores and restaurants today, Sunday will be the busiest day of the week. Youth activities are now commonly scheduled for Sundays, prompting author Jim Elliff to pen an article entitled, ‘When Ball becomes Baal,’ a not-so-subtle reference to the idolatry of ancient Israel.” [1]
• “Each of us needs to be in the worship assembly, and each of us needs the other to be there, too. On our own, the Devil breaks us too easily. He’s a roaring lion looking for folks to devour.” [1]
The message is unmistakable: communities will function better when Sunday is protected by law. The solution implied by the modern media is to restore society by limiting sports, shopping, and other activities that have made Sunday the busiest day of the week. By invoking phrases such as “When Ball Becomes Baal,” the so-called desecration of Sunday is elevated to the level of idolatry. Once Sunday commerce is labeled as idolatry, restrictions on that day become justified and necessary. This reflects the mindset of a growing segment of Christian nationalists and others who seek to re-establish Sunday as a uniform day of rest.
Because Sunday activity is increasingly portrayed as a cause of family breakdown and moral decline, churches are turning to government to enforce laws that would close businesses, restrict commerce, and limit other activities on that day in order to encourage church attendance. Prophecy warns that enforced worship does not begin with persecution but with moral appeals and social pressure—before ultimately ending in coercion. Whenever civil power is employed to accomplish what the church cannot achieve through persuasion alone, the law becomes the mechanism by which Sunday observance is imposed.
“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” (Great Controversy, p. 587).
Source
[1] https://www.mariettatimes.com/life/features/2026/02/each-of-us-needs-to-be-in-the-worship-assembly/
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