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In The Netherlands and many other European countries, stores are (or were until recently) closed on Sundays, and particularly Christian parties (strongly) oppose allowing stores to be open on Sundays, arguing that Sunday is the day of God and that stores should be closed. (Labour unions also often oppose Sunday opening, although for entirely different reasons.)

The United States' Christian right, according to Wikipedia, has views on education, the role of the government, family values, and other issues. In The Netherlands, the Christian right, as represented by the Reformed Political Party, has among their major issues to strongly oppose any liberalisation for Sunday opening of stores.

Does the Christian right in the USA address this issue at all?

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  • The US is home to a lot of different sects of Abrahamic religions with varying views on the Sabbath. It's unlikely you would see it addressed on a widespread national level because of this. Commented Apr 27, 2016 at 0:00
  • @user1086516 You could replace Sabbath with abortion in that sentence, and your conclusion would be wrong. I don't have much I can factually say about why the Christian right doesn't worry about this subject, but I'm sure there is much to be said about why they don't.
    – prosfilaes
    Commented Dec 3, 2019 at 6:09

2 Answers 2

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The blue laws (as DA's answer noted) are still on the books in some counties.

However, these days many (if not most) of them aren't in place for religious reasons.

One of the most famous locations in USA for blue laws is Bergen County, NJ (the only one of NJ's 10 counties having them - the state law was enacted in 1959).

People very recently (1980?) rejected repeal of those laws in referendum, with main reasons being NOT religious but decidedly mundane - Bergen County is home to super large malls that people visit even from NYC, and people didn't want extra traffic and activity on Sunday (and the location of the largest malls, Paramus, actually introduced NEW blue laws in 1969, more extensive than state ones).

... Paramus's Mayor, Cliff Gennarelli, vowed an all-out fight against repeal of Bergen County's blue law.
"Paramus would be just an awful place to live without the blue law," he said. Among the burdens, he listed traffic on the side streets, extra demands on the police and emergency services, and inconvenience to residents. "The big thing is the quality of life," he said. "The only day streets are clear is Sunday." (src)

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  • As an aside, having driven on those highways, there's somewhat of a point there. Saturday traffic there is... doubleplusnotgood.
    – user4012
    Commented Mar 10, 2013 at 13:39
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    you mean doubleplusungood?
    – Anixx
    Commented Mar 10, 2013 at 14:28
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    @Anixx - Nope, i meant it as a real term, not newspeak :)
    – user4012
    Commented Mar 10, 2013 at 14:48
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    And the traffic in Paramus is HORRIBLE on other days. Commented Apr 26, 2016 at 2:24
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    @TimMalone - "religious right" is way too much of a vague term to be answerable to be honest. Do you mean "all voters who are christian and vote Republican"? If so, the answer is clearly "no" as such laws are not present in vast majority of places they are a majority and therefore have ability to institute such laws. Do you mean "fringe groups that insist all public laws must be in accordance with New Testament"? Probably, but there isn't enough of the latter to even have an informed poll. Do you mean religoius leaders like Falwell? Not sure but don't think they ever called for such laws
    – user4012
    Commented Nov 28, 2017 at 15:44
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In the US these are called 'Blue Laws'.

They are still enforced in some counties throughout the country, but aren't nearly as predominant as they once were.

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