Against Sabbatarianism

From the Scotsman:

"THE Free Presbyterian Church yesterday won the support of a key parliamentary committee to continue their fight to reinstate Sunday as a day of rest.

The church believes working on a Sunday instead of worshipping God or spending time with family is at the root of social disintegration."

And what if you don't believe in God and/or don't have a family? Scotland used to have a particularly dismal way of observing the Sabbath, which although greatly diminished, still forms part of my childhood memory. It consisted of everything being shut and the only thing being on telly some turgid but worthy beeb drama. I don't know how interesting attending Sunday school would have been because my parents were atheists but without even than to break the monotony, Sunday used to be like a waiting room in the dentist - on a national scale.

This is what the 'wee frees' are nostalgic for:

"Research by the Keep Sunday Special campaign found almost half of people questioned think shopping on a Sunday can add to people's overall stress levels at the weekend."

So don't do it then. Honestly! Apart from disagreeing with the supposed benefits of this dreary Calvinistic tradition, I'm at odds with the theology - even if one accepted it is the role of the state to impose this on everyone else, which it isn't:

"The Rev Hugh Cartwright, who was representing the "Wee, Wee Frees" as the Free Presbyterian Church is known, said that no work at all should be done on a Sunday. People should not watch television, read papers or play sport, but attend church, read the Bible or spend time with family."

I've already read the Bible and having done so I've detected a couple of pretty fundamental problems with this compulsory Sabbath observing argument, which are:

a) Hate to break it to the wee frees but the Sabbath is on Saturday, ok? 'Fraid I can't see past the logical problem of the whole thing; one and seven are different things.

b) Christians are not required to obey the Mosiac law (see the artist formerly known as Saul of Tarsus - a guy y'all are usually very keen on, as long as he's banging on about predestination or something), of which Sabbath observance is a part. If you disagree, go and get yourselves circumcised before you start telling the rest of us what to do on our days off.