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Easter Sunday opening hours and the law
BillieTheBot
Posts: 8,721 Bot
If there is supposed to be a separation of Church and State and people of other religious denominations (or none whatsoever) are supposed to have equal rights with Christians, why is it that large shops are still not allowed to open on Easter Sunday?
Why is it a form of disrespect to go to my local Homebase to buy some paint on Easter Sunday? To me it's just like any other Sunday. I ain't a Christian and I suspect the there wouldn't be a shortage of Homebase employees who would be happy to work on Easter Sunday. But they're not allowed by law.
Why are our lives still dominated by certain religious superstitions in the 21st Century whether we believe them or not?
Why is it a form of disrespect to go to my local Homebase to buy some paint on Easter Sunday? To me it's just like any other Sunday. I ain't a Christian and I suspect the there wouldn't be a shortage of Homebase employees who would be happy to work on Easter Sunday. But they're not allowed by law.
Why are our lives still dominated by certain religious superstitions in the 21st Century whether we believe them or not?
Beep boop. I'm a bot.
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good point though ...will the shops be closed for ramadam?
but ...a few miles down the road in Rhyl ...you can play bing and slot machines and the likes all day long. so it's a sin to shop on easter sunday but not to gamble ...strange these christians.
Britain is largely secular now.
Leaving aside the religious issue, Easter and Christmas ARE traditional holidays. I personally think that large shops are open enough, and that they do enough damage to local communities anyway.
IN a country where people work too much, having the shops shut for a few days a year can only be a good thing. Because whilst working on a Sunday is "voluntary" people don't have a choice, and most supermarket workers are women with families- something that can only be abad thinkg for social cohesion.
Think of what a pain in the ass it is when your time off doesn't jive with any of your friends. You either have to sacrifice a good night's sleep and therefore diminish your productivity at work the next day, or you have to rain-check for months on end, waiting until your schedules match. That's just one small taste of how the calenderless work week fucks up communal unity.
So there
You know, I've always used Southend, as an example of what would happen come the apocolypse, too...
yes it was, but that's cause it's classed as an emergency type thing - car parts and so on.
we still live in a predominantly christian country, and so we generally observe christian holidays. just the way it is. same as if you go to a lot of places in europe, everywhere shuts for a siesta in the early afternoon.
if you knew the shops were going to be closed, you should have bought what you needed in advance.
So these dates fit in with the Christian calendar. So what? Why should this be offensive to anyone?
And it is the fact that they are not allowed to open that buggers me.
There were several law breakers then
My local shop for a start...
http://www.dti.gov.uk/ccp/topics1/facts/sunday.htm
I don't understand why though. Is this then to do with competition and giving small businesses a chance? Or with 'respect' for the Christian faith? And if the latter, why are small businesses allowed to open then?
Seperation between Church and State in this country are you sure?
Anyway all countries have their own customs. Aren't there parts of Spain that still shutdown for four hours during the day, everyday?
Regardless of religious beliefs I think its great that people are forced to do something for 2 days out of 365 to do something besides shop.
I personally used to hate working Sundays.
Secularisation is hard to measure. I'd say that looking at church attendance statistics it's dechristianised... at least on the side of group worship.
Yes but that is to honour the Goddess known as Siesta...
Christian or not, the MAJORITY of workers don't want to work on any sunday, let alone Easter sunday.
Small buisnesses can open because they are generally of the convienience store or petrol station type.
As for the Spanish siesta, I find it highly annoying that a supposedly developed nation thinks it's productive to shut shop for most of the afternoon and for it's citizens criticise us for wanting a day off once a week.
Stopping for a siesta is one of the best things you can do to yourself. Doctors cannot praise it enough... ask yours.
But the point I was trying to make does not relate to normal trading hours or competition- it relates to forcing stores to close solely to preserve the sensitivities of some of the people who adhere to a religious faith.
Yet again another example of organised religion dictating what people and businesses can or cannot do.
You may have been right 30 years ago when EVERYTHING was shut on a Sunday, but not now.
The British are traditionally hard workers. We put more hours in than any other nation, and it's killing us. We NEED at least one day of the week where we can relax, drink a beer, sit in the garden or wash the car.
By allowing shops, who care only for profits to open all day on a sunday you are killing off one of the last chances people get to spend good time with their families.
You are adding to the big companies ability to make yet more money off our backs and turning us into a nation of seven day workers.
I already work 45 hours a week, my girlfriend works about 50. She works sundays and bank holidays because the shop she runs INSISTS on being open as much as possible. Which is more important?
Proving a point about religion, or allowing the people one last refuge from the hectic lives we are forced to lead.
So true, from a business perspective it is believed that it makes people more productive too...
Whowhere, I completely agree with what you have just said. And I'm certainly not one to champion the rights of companies to maximise profits by making employees work longer and harder.
But the issue relates to one particular Sunday of the year not the other 51. And the forced closure is being done for the wrong reasons. I'd be more than happy for more strict regulation regarding opening hours of big stores when it's designed to give workers a real day off and to protect small businesses. It's the ''you cannot open on this particular Sunday because some people mark the ‘resurrection’ of their god on this day and you might offend them'' argument that pisses me off.
Incidentally, there is a law in Spain now limiting the number of Sundays big stores are allowed to open per year. They can open up to 8 Sundays only per year. This law was passed to protect small businesses from the intense and unfair competition of big stores.
You may disagree with the rule, but it certainly does the job of keeping the shops shut for at least one day a year.
It may not have any real reason to do with god anymore, but the unions have seized it as a good excuse to make it so we don't have to work it.
Now that I am not falling asleep I have come up with a half decent counter arguement
If i work more hours, that will mean that i will pay more taxes. Thus meaning that the government will get more of my money, and could use it for redistrbution of wealth or something. Therefore if i could work extra hours on a Sunday It would be benifitting society more as there will be more taxes!