Should Sunday trading restrictions be lifted?

wizzardmr42

stevemcol wrote: »

wizzardmr42
I respect your views. In my experience, arguments based on the rights and wrongs of religion rarely end in agreement so it's expedient to agree to differ.

I'd hope they don't end up in agreement - life is terribly dull when everyone thinks the same way!

Seriously though, I'm not sure I was really clear at the whole points in what I was saying.

1) The Sunday trading laws stem from Christian ideas about Sunday being a day of rest, but I would like to know what sort of restrictions Christians are actually supposed to have on not working on a Sunday - is there even any actual religious rule to prohibit it? (the detail I gave on Jewish restrictions on our Sabbath was to contrast that we do have very definite and well defined restrictions).

2) Is the official Christian approach that it is supposed to impose itself on everyone regardless of whether they are Christian or not? According to the CIA World Factbook, over 28% of people in the UK identify themselves as not Christian, so do Christians believe that their restrictions should apply to non-Christians?

I'm not really trying to get into the whole arguments of whether it is legally discriminatory or whether it is a good idea to have a universal day off work every week - I was really inquiring whether there is actually even a religious basis for it?

Gordon_the_Moron

I'm a shop worker, not worked a Sunday for years but not through choice but through the job I do not needing it.

That said I used to do so and would happily do so again, I think stores should be allowed to trade whatever hours they choose on a Sunday, we already have adequate protection if we do not want to work Sundays
http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Employment/Employees/WorkingHoursAndTimeOff/DG_10028516

moo168

I work in retail (well known department store) and can tell you that most Sundays are nothing but goods returned that were bought during the week, obviously food retail is different.

At the moment with the economic state we are in there isn't much non essential stuff being bought,so are Sundays are very quiet anyway.

Worse than Sunday opening is Bank Holidays when public transport is very limited if at all available and it is difficult to get to work.

martlet2

To answer Wizzardmr42: As a fairly relaxed Christian my understanding of the Christian view on Sundays is that we should follow the Commandment "Keep Holy the Sabbath day", which for some reason that eludes me is held by Christians to be Sunday even though the Calendar says it is the first day of the week. On that basis I was advised I should do no unnecessary work on a Sunday, which (I think) means don't do work that could just as easily be done on a different day. I also understand that Sunday should be used for rest, family, and maybe religious or other reflection.

As to my own personal view: I used to love the peace and quiet of Sundays: now they are almost as noisy and rushed as every other day, and if the open-all-hours brigade get their way will soon become even noisier. I would love a return to the old days, when Sundays were a day of peace and quiet for pretty well everyone except the essential services and a few small traders. Having said that: I do not wish to impose my views on others. I think the matter should be decided nationally or even town by town by referendum.

Regardless of the result I will stick to my chosen path: I will not work or go shopping on a Sunday!

wouldbeqaulitymoneysaver

@Custardy Businesses in the Far East, Third World etc exploit the Workers in unimaginable ways. See Naomi Klein No Logo for more (and Shock Doctrine while you are at it). I am sure many uncaring exploitative Businesses following a Philosopher called Karl Polanyi who wrote about how people can and should be exploited (can't find quote!) would like to follow suit. We should all be aware.
NB I don't think it serves the purposes of Big Business, Small Business or any Business to have uncared for and unhappy Workers. Work Welfare is as important as providing Social Protection in terms of Welfare in helping the Economy as well as Workers concerned.

wouldbeqaulitymoneysaver

Even if you are out and out Atheist Why should we have to work 7 days a week ? Is nothing sacred?
You don't need any kind of religious belief to justify Sabbaths from workers resting to Fields and Nature resting.
Rest is built into who and what we are and it is a good thing.

martlet2

Wouldbequalitymoneysaver:

You are right on both counts. Add another: Sundays used to be the one day of the week when nearly everyone could easily arrange family outings, meeting up with friends etc without some being absent due to work. It was great, but we've lost all that (and maybe the plot) somewhere along the line.

MattLFC

I'm a Roman Catholic (thus I'm a Christian wayhay) and I work on Sundays sometimes. A few weeks ago I worked for 29 days without a day off, owing to staff holidays (it's that time of the year - I can't complain, I had 7 weeks off previous to that stint).

But I'm sorry, we do not live in a Christian country, we live in a multicultural country, whereby all faiths and cultures are welcome, and none should be given a precedent over another. If the authorities ever wondered why there is a "divide" between Christians and non-Christians in this country (including tensions with minority-faiths) then part of the reason surely boils down to antiquated, and pointless laws such as this.

I would rather go shopping on Sunday; many people I know choose to go shopping on Sunday rather than Saturday, because it tends to be quieter. Forcing everyone to shop only on Saturday, is ridiculous, and the law being in place because of Christian faith, leads to resentment from those who do not agree with such a rule being enshrined in law on the basis of one man's faith.

The choice should be that of the consumer; if they wish to work or shop on Sunday, give them that choice, there is too much of this nanny-state attitude nowadays, let people take a bit of responsibility for themselves. If you want a Sunday to be a religious day, so be it.

The company I work for works 24/7/365, we employ tens of thousands of people who work on Christmas day, including many born and bred Christians. I have not, thus far, heard of any incidents where employee's have refused/moaned about working on Christmas day (that's not to say some didn't mind), but then it's the nature of the business and the government allows it (regardless of any Christianised laws affecting retail).

It seems to me that people in this country follow faith and tradition when it suits, oooooo no you can't have shops open on a Sunday, but it's perfectly fine for corporates to bleed society dry, to profiteer from the commercialisation of Christian festivals...

ashleyriot

DaybreakGirl wrote: »

I am sick to death of this, Sunday Trading should be stopped everywhere, including the garages and small corner shops. There is plenty of time to go shopping Monday to Saturday. Family time should be Sunday and this forcing of people to have to work Sundays should stop it is unacceptable. I am not religious so it is not down to that.

Let's try it this way...

"I am sick to death of this, Wednesday Trading should be stopped everywhere, including the garages and small corner shops. There is plenty of time to go shopping Thursday to Tuesday. Family time should be Wednesday and this forcing of people to have to work Wednesdays should stop it is unacceptable. I am not religious so it is not down to that."

Why hold Sunday on a pedestal?

custardy

wouldbeqaulitymoneysaver wrote: »

@Custardy Businesses in the Far East, Third World etc exploit the Workers in unimaginable ways. See Naomi Klein No Logo for more (and Shock Doctrine while you are at it). I am sure many uncaring exploitative Businesses following a Philosopher called Karl Polanyi who wrote about how people can and should be exploited (can't find quote!) would like to follow suit. We should all be aware.
NB I don't think it serves the purposes of Big Business, Small Business or any Business to have uncared for and unhappy Workers. Work Welfare is as important as providing Social Protection in terms of Welfare in helping the Economy as well as Workers concerned.

there are many aspects of emlployee welfare that are more important than a few(yes few) having Sunday off.
Many people would be happy to work Sunday. It could allow many to increase thier hours after being forced to stick with PT hours.
people seem to be saying Sunday will be luped onto the existing workforce.
that doesnt happen here. Sunday is just another day in the working week and staffed accordingly.
all these people wanting Sundays as family time. I assume you never go out and use any services/shops/pubs etc on a Sunday?