On March 2, 2026, Bishop David Bard, Chair of the Committee on Faith and Order in the United Methodist Church, spoke about the need to revive the civil structures that once played a beneficial role in supporting religious life in America. He pointed out that “Sunday closing laws were seen as support for Christian churches” and that they made “inviting people to participate in our church a bit easier.”
The bishop was highlighting a period in American history when Sunday laws restricted commercial activity so that society as a whole paused for worship and rest. He explained that these “social pressures” encouraged participation in Sunday worship, acknowledging that government policies once created a favorable environment for churches. In other words, Sunday worship was not entirely voluntary but was reinforced by legal and cultural pressures.
Bishop David Bard expressed the following remarks:
• “I chair the Committee on Faith and Order, which is charged with giving leadership to The United Methodist Church in reflecting upon, discerning and living out matters of faith, doctrinal teaching, order, and discipline in the midst of mission and ministry in the church and world.” [1]
• “On the Sunday I was in Copenhagen, many of us attended a United Methodist church … One of the things that struck me was the intertwining of church and crown, church and state, in Danish history.” [1]
• “While we have no long history of a state church in the United States, we certainly have a long history of broad social and cultural support for and reinforcement of participation in religious communities. Sunday closing laws were seen as support for Christian churches.” [1]
• “Just as the state church in Denmark no longer functions as it once did, so, too, have most of the broad social and cultural supports for religious participation eroded in the United States. People no longer assume that most of their coworkers belong to a religious community.” [1]
• “In light of that, the church’s task has become more challenging. It is one thing to have broad social forces that encourage religious participation. That makes inviting people to participate in our church a bit easier, though truth be told, we relied too long on such social pressures to do our work for us.” [1]
• “We have a task, and it is no longer supported by the social and cultural contexts it once was.” [1]
• “I think people want to see people of faith speak about and work for the common good. We will wade into some uncomfortable territory here, as the common good concerns our shared life in political communities. We need to continually raise questions about how we promote the flourishing of all, how we create a more beloved community.” [1]
• “We need to engage in actions for the common good with a generous spirit and kind, compassionate hearts.” [1]
The Bishop lamented that these social supports—namely, Sunday laws—have “eroded,” essentially making the church’s work more difficult for them. His comparison with Denmark’s historical union of church and state reinforces the idea that religious institutions often benefit when church doctrines are supported by civil authority. His argument points back to a time when Sunday laws helped strengthen churches and normalize Christian worship in society. By emphasizing the loss of these supports, he indirectly implies that the church would benefit if society once again promoted religious participation through public mandates.
Furthermore, when the Bishop David Bard speaks about Christians engaging politically to promote the “common good,” he opens the door for the church to influence the state through public policy. The concept of the “common good” has historically been used by many religious leaders to justify legislation that reflects Christian moral values. In this context, speaking positively about Sunday laws while simultaneously encouraging the church to engage politically is to advocate for Sunday laws.
By presenting Sunday closing laws as helpful to churches and lamenting their disappearance, the argument clearly points toward the idea of reviving these laws in order to strengthen religious participation. The logic is that the government can and should support Sunday observance in order to benefit both the church and society.
“The enforcement of Sunday-keeping on the part of Protestant churches is an enforcement of the worship of the papacy—of the beast” (Great Controversy, p. 448).
Sources
[1] https://michiganumc.org/we-have-good-news-to-tell/
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