Sunday Law Deregulation
and
Sabbath Accommodation
On the Rise

On the Sunday Law
David Aguilar

View the Video of the US Government's Endorsement of the SDA Church

Adventist leaders, Romanian ambassador affirm commitment to freedom

March 12, 2009

The presence of 100,000 Seventh-day Adventist Christians in Romania is "proof" of the church's contribution to the country, said Ambassador Adrian Vierita, Romania's emissary to the United States, during a luncheon at the Adventist world church's headquarters today.

Vierita, who has held his post in Washington, D.C. for the past 14 months, met with Jan Paulsen, world church president, and church officials before the luncheon meeting. The Seventh-day Adventist Church's roots in Romania date back to 1868.

Following the 1989 revolution, Adventist outreach gained wider public support in the country, and in welcoming Vierita and his wife, Codrina, Pastor Paulsen said, "I want to thank you and your nation for recognizing human rights," particularly in regard to religious freedom.

Paulsen also noted that Adventists operate more than 60 educational institutions in Romania, and that "education has always been a big value [of] the Seventh-day Adventist Church. We want to be more than [just] a community of faith."

Paulsen told Vierita the church wanted to be "partners in nation and community building." He also offered the nation's people the church's full support.

Dr. John Graz, director of world church's department of Public Affairs and Religious Liberty, said that Adventism is recognized as an official church in Romania and expressed appreciation for that status. In introducing the Ambassador, Graz noted Mrs. Vierita was also a counselor at the Romanian Embassy.

Adventists in Romania are known for their contribution to religious liberty in a country which saw severe restrictions of human rights under communism, Graz said. 

"I have a great respect and appreciation for the Seventh-day Adventist Church," Vierita said. "[Your] Church is appreciated by the Romanian authorities." Noting that many of the world church leaders at the luncheon had visited the nation, he continued, "What you have probably already felt is that you are most welcome in my country."

February 25, 2009

Rising and Falling - Together: The Economy and Sunday Laws

By Barry Bussey (Adventist attorney writing from Canada)

In the midst of this turmoil we are asked by many about the possibility of Sunday laws - enacted as a means to help solve the current economic crisis.  Give a day whereby everyone can stay home and be with their families, plus help the economy.
“[Sunday sales legislation] always comes bubbling up when the economy goes south,” says David Laband, an Auburn University economics professor who authored Blue Laws: The History, Economics, and Politics of Sunday-Closing Laws.[4]
However, contrary to what you might think, a number of states (namely, Georgia, Connecticut, Texas, Alabama and Minnesota) are actually planning on REMOVING the last vestiges of Sunday blue laws because of the faltering economy.  Currently those states have restrictions on the sale of alcohol on Sundays.  They want that changed.  The hope is that there will be more tax revenue from such Sunday sales.  Not surprising there is opposition to this by the Christian Coalition.
“Slowly and systematically we’ve seen these laws lifted in past century, even more so when there has been an economic downturn,” Laband says. “States realize that consumers will migrate to a place where they can buy what they want. And whatever their reasons are for not wanting to sell on Sunday, these states realize they’re paying a price for it in foregone tax revenues. So once the economy goes bad, then the cost of their policies are apparent to them.”
The discussion of Sunday closing laws weakening in a time of economic stress is counter intuitive to our Adventist understanding of end time events.  Yet there it is.

More Americans say they have no religion

By RACHEL ZOLL

A wide-ranging study on American religious life found that the Roman Catholic population has been shifting out o of the Northeast to the Southwest, the percentage of Christians in the nation has declined and more people say they have no religion at all.

Fifteen percent of respondents said they had no religion, an increase from 14.2 percent in 2001 and 8.2 percent in 1990, according to the American Religious Identification Survey.

Northern New England surpassed the Pacific Northwest as the least religious region, with Vermont reporting the highest share of those claiming no religion, at 34 percent. Still, the study found that the numbers of Americans with no religion rose in every state.

"No other religious bloc has kept such a pace in every state," the study's authors said.

In the Northeast, self-identified Catholics made up 36 percent of adults last year, down from 43 percent in 1990. At the same time, however, Catholics grew to about one-third of the adult population in California and Texas, and one-quarter of Floridians, largely due to Latino immigration, according to the research.

Nationally, Catholics remain the largest religious group, with 57 million people saying they belong to the church. The tradition gained 11 million followers since 1990, but its share of the population fell by about a percentage point to 25 percent.

Christians who aren't Catholic also are a declining segment of the country.

In 2008, Christians comprised 76 percent of U.S. adults, compared to about 77 percent in 2001 and about 86 percent in 1990. Researchers said the dwindling ranks of mainline Protestants, including Methodists, Lutherans and Episcopalians, largely explains the shift. Over the last seven years, mainline Protestants dropped from just over 17 percent to 12.9 percent of the population.

The report from The Program on Public Values at Trinity College in Hartford, Conn., surveyed 54,461 adults in English or Spanish from February through November of last year. It has a margin of error of plus or minus 0.5 percentage points. The findings are part of a series of studies on American religion by the program that will later look more closely at reasons behind the trends.

The current survey, being released Monday, found traditional organized religion playing less of a role in many lives. Thirty percent of married couples did not have a religious wedding ceremony and 27 percent of respondents said they did not want a religious funeral.

About 12 percent of Americans believe in a higher power but not the personal God at the core of monotheistic faiths. And, since 1990, a slightly greater share of respondents — 1.2 percent — said they were part of new religious movements, including Scientology, Wicca and Santeria.

The study also found signs of a growing influence of churches that either don't belong to a denomination or play down their membership in a religious group.

Respondents who called themselves "non-denominational Christian" grew from 0.1 percent in 1990 to 3.5 percent last year. Congregations that most often use the term are megachurches considered "seeker sensitive." They use rock style music and less structured prayer to attract people who don't usually attend church. Researchers also found a small increase in those who prefer being called evangelical or born-again, rather than claim membership in a denomination.

Evangelical or born-again Americans make up 34 percent of all American adults and 45 percent of all Christians and Catholics, the study found. Researchers found that 18 percent of Catholics consider themselves born-again or evangelical, and nearly 39 percent of mainline Protestants prefer those labels. Many mainline Protestant groups are riven by conflict over how they should interpret what the Bible says about gay relationships, salvation and other issues.

The percentage of Pentecostals remained mostly steady since 1990 at 3.5 percent, a surprising finding considering the dramatic spread of the tradition worldwide. Pentecostals are known for a spirited form of Christianity that includes speaking in tongues and a belief in modern-day miracles.

Mormon numbers also held steady over the period at 1.4 percent of the population, while the number of Jews who described themselves as religiously observant continued to drop, from 1.8 percent in 1990 to 1.2 percent, or 2.7 million people, last year. Researchers plan a broader survey on people who consider themselves culturally Jewish but aren't religious.

The study found that the percentage of Americans who identified themselves as Muslim grew to 0.6 percent of the population, while growth in Eastern religions such as Buddhism slightly slowed.

On the Net:

Notice that Sunday Laws are not likely to be passed
by a society that places a low importance on religion.
One must also take into account that not all     "religious people"
will be supportive of legislating Sunday sacredness.

Most religious groups in USA have lost ground, survey finds

Grossman, USA TODAY

When it comes to religion, the USA is now land of the freelancers.

The percentage. of people who call themselves in some way Christian has dropped more than 11% in a generation. The faithful have scattered out of their traditional bases: The Bible Belt is less Baptist. The Rust Belt is less Catholic. And everywhere, more people are exploring spiritual frontiers — or falling off the faith map completely.

These dramatic shifts in just 18 years are detailed in the new American Religious Identification Survey (ARIS), to be released today. It finds that, despite growth and immigration that has added nearly 50 million adults to the U.S. population, almost all religious denominations have lost ground since the first ARIS survey in 1990.

"More than ever before, people are just making up their own stories of who they are. They say, 'I'm everything. I'm nothing. I believe in myself,' " says Barry Kosmin, survey co-author.

Among the key findings in the 2008 survey:

• So many Americans claim no religion at all (15%, up from 8% in 1990), that this category now outranks every other major U.S. religious group except Catholics and Baptists. In a nation that has long been mostly Christian, "the challenge to Christianity … does not come from other religions but from a rejection of all forms of organized religion," the report concludes.

• Catholic strongholds in New England and the Midwest have faded as immigrants, retirees and young job-seekers have moved to the Sun Belt. While bishops from the Midwest to Massachusetts close down or consolidate historic parishes, those in the South are scrambling to serve increasing numbers of worshipers.

• Baptists, 15.8% of those surveyed, are down from 19.3% in 1990. Mainline Protestant denominations, once socially dominant, have seen sharp declines: The percentage of Methodists, for example, dropped from 8% to 5%.

• The percentage of those who choose a generic label, calling themselves simply Christian, Protestant, non-denominational, evangelical or "born again," was 14.2%, about the same as in 1990.

• Jewish numbers showed a steady decline, from 1.8% in 1990 to 1.2% today. The percentage of Muslims, while still slim, has doubled, from 0.3% to 0.6%. Analysts within both groups suggest those numbers understate the groups' populations.

Ihsan Bagby, associate professor of Islamic studies at the University of Kentucky-Lexington, says that most national telephone surveys such as ARIS undercount Muslims, and that he is conducting a study of mosques' membership sponsored by the Hartford (Conn.) Institute for Religious Research.

Meanwhile, some Jewish surveys that report larger numbers of Jews also include "cultural" Jews — those who connect to Judiasm through its traditions, but not necessarily through actively practicing the religion.

Meanwhile, nearly 2.8 million people now identify with dozens of new religious movements, calling themselves Wiccan, pagan or "Spiritualist," which the survey does not define.

Wicca, a contemporary form of paganism that includes goddess worship and reverence for nature, has even made its way to Arlington National Cemetery, where the Pentagon now allows Wiccans' five-pointed-star symbol to be used on veterans' gravestones.

Religion as a hobby

Since the first ARIS study was released, other major national surveys have offered snapshots of the USA's faith.

The Baylor University Religion Surveys in 2006 and 2008, each based on 35,000 interviews, were distinguished by a look at how people described and understood God. The Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life released its Religious Landscape Survey last year, also based on 35,000 interviews, mapping Americans' beliefs state by state. It found that 41% of people had switched their religion at some point in life.

The initial ARIS report in 1990 set the table for those surveys.

It was based on 113,000 interviews, updated with 50,000 more in 2001 and now 54,000 in 2008. Because the U.S. Census does not ask about religion, the ARIS survey was the first comprehensive study of how people identify their spiritual expression.

Kosmin concluded from the 1990 data that many saw God as a "personal hobby," and that the USA is "a greenhouse for spiritual sprouts."

Today, he says, "religion has become more like a fashion statement, not a deep personal commitment for many."

Kosmin is now director of the Institute for the Study of Secularism in Society and Culture at Trinity College in Hartford, Conn.; ARIS co-researcher Ariela Keysar is associate director.

The ARIS research also led in quantifying and planting a label on the "Nones" — people who said "None" when asked the survey's basic question: "What is your religious identity?"

The survey itself may have contributed to a higher rate of reporting as sociologists began analyzing the newly identified Nones. "The Nones may have felt more free to step forward, less looked upon as outcasts" after the ARIS results were published, Keysar says.

Oregon once led the nation in Nones (18% in 1990), but in 2008 the leader, with 34%, was Vermont, where Nones significantly outnumber every other group.

Meabh Fitzpatrick, 49, of Rutland, Vt., says she is upfront about becoming an atheist 10 years ago because "it's important for us to be counted. I'm a taxpayer and a law-abiding citizen and an ethical person, and I don't think people assume this about atheists."

Not all Nones have made such a philosophical choice; most just unhook from religious ties.

Diane Mueller, 43, of Austin, who grew up Methodist, says she's simply "totally disengaged from the church and the Bible, too." Sunday mornings for her family mean playing in a park, not praying in a pew.

Ex-Catholic Dylan Rossi, 21, a philosophy student in Boston and a Massachusetts native, is part of the sharp fall in the state's percentage of Catholics — from 54% to 39% in his lifetime.

Rossi says he's typical among his friends: "If religion comes up, everyone at the table will start mocking it. I don't know anyone religious and hardly anyone 'spiritual.' "

Social mobility a factor

Anger and dismay over the clergy sexual abuse scandal, which erupted in Boston in 2002, may be reflected in declining rates of Catholics across New England. But the total percentage of Catholics in the USA declined only slightly from 1990 to 2008, from 26.2% to 25.1%. Analysts say immigration and other demographic shifts account for most of the changes.

"It's not that everyone in New England lost their Catholic faith since 1990. It's not the same people in New England," says sociologist Mary Gautier, senior researcher at the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate, the research arm of the Catholic Church in America.

Membership in New England's Catholic churches is shrinking as older Catholics have died or moved to sunnier climates. Young adults are choosing non-Catholic partners, having civil weddings and skipping baptism for their babies. And those moving in to areas served by the churches are young adults who often find their communities of work and friendship online, not in parish halls.

"I sometimes wish I had a sky hook to take people from dying parishes up North and plunk them down in the parishes around Austin or Atlanta — and bring their beautiful buildings with them," Gautier says.

Bishop Gregory Aymond would be happy to have those resources in Austin. He's spiritually delighted and financially challenged as his Texas diocese has doubled in numbers with retirees, Mexican immigrants, students at five major universities and Californians moving in for high-tech jobs.

"And demographers expect it to double again in the next 10 to 12 years," he says.

In Mount Pleasant, S.C., a suburb of Charleston, "everyone from Ohio is here," says Msgr. James Carter, pastor of Christ Our King Catholic Church. The church has grown so big so fast that it has spun off another parish and a mission church, and it plans outdoor split-shift services for Easter to accommodate about 2,500 families.

South Carolina also exemplifies the Protestant faiths' shrinking share of the national religion "pie." The state has more Catholics (10%, up from 6% in 1990) and the percentage of Nones has more than tripled, from 3% to 10%. The share of Protestants is 73%, down from 88% in 1990.

Like Gautier, the Rev. Kendall Harmon, theologian for the Episcopal Diocese of South Carolina, blames social mobility.

"Mobility means your ideas are more challenged and your family and childhood traditions have less influence, particularly if you are not strongly rooted in them. I see kids today who have no vocabulary of faith, and neither do many of their parents."

Harmon recalls, "A couple came into my office once with a yellow pad of their teenage son's questions. One of them was: 'What is that guy doing hanging up there on the plus sign?' "

Kosmin and Keysar also found a "piety gap" in how Americans understand God: While 69% say they believe in a personal God, the Judeo-Christian understanding of the Almighty, an additional 30% made no such connection.

The piety gap defines the primary sides in the culture wars, Kosmin says.

"It's about gay marriage and abortion and stem cells and the family. If a personal God says, 'Thou shalt not' or 'Thou shalt' see these a certain way, you'd take it very seriously. Meanwhile, three in 10 people aren't listening to that God," he says.

"There's more clarity at the two extremes and the mishmash is in the middle," Keysar adds.

Mark Silk, director of the Greenberg Center for the Study of Religion in Public Life at Trinity College, sees in the numbers "an emergence of a soft evangelicalism — E-lite — that owes a lot to evangelical styles of worship and basic approach to church.

"But E-lite is more a matter of aesthetic and style and a considerable softening of the edges in doctrine, politics and social values," Silk says.

Additional narrowly focused surveys, with closer looks at Catholics, evangelicals, mainline Protestants, and African-American Christians, will be released later this year by Trinity's Program on Public Values, which sponsored ARIS, Silk says.

Some believers might be alarmed by the ARIS findings, but Tom Haynes isn't. Haynes, 46, a Houston entrepreneur, is the brother of Diane Mueller, the Austin mom who claims no religion. Same Methodist upbringing. Totally different spiritual choices.

Haynes, like 69% of Americans, said in the ARIS survey that he believes there is "definitely a personal God." He calls himself a deeply committed "follower of Christ," rather than aligning with a specific denomination. He attends a non-denominational community church where he likes the rock music, but Bible study is the focus of his faith.

"We just look to Jesus," he says. "That's why I don't pay attention to surveys. Christianity is moving totally under the radar. It's the work of God. It can't be measured. It happens inside of people's souls."

Religious movement in the USA

How Americans describe their religious identity, 1990 — 2008:

 

 

Religious tradition

 

2008 estimate (in millions)

 

Estimated % of population 1990

 

Estimated % of population 2008

 

Change

 

 

Catholic

57.2

26.2%

25.1%

-1.1%

 

Baptist

36.1

19.3%

15.8%

-3.5%

 

No religion

34.2

8.2%

15.0%

6.8%

 

Christian, generic

32.4

14.8%

14.2%

-0.6%

 

Mainline Protestant

29.4

18.7%

12.9%

-5.8%

 

Don't Know/Refused

11.8

2.3%

5.2%

2.9%

 

Pentecostal/Charismatic

8.0

3.2%

3.5%

0.3%

 

Protestant denominations

7.1

2.6%

3.1%

0.5%

 

Mormon/latter-day Saints

3.2

1.4%

1.4%

0.0%

 

New movements (such as Wiccan), other religions

2.8

0.8%

1.2%

0.4%

 

Jewish

2.7

1.8%

1.2%

-0.6%

 

Eastern religions

2.0

0.4%

0.9%

0.5%

 

Muslim

1.4

0.3%

0.6%

0.3%

 

Note: "Catholic" includes Roman, Greek and Eastern Rite Catholics. Christian generic includes non-denominational, unspecified Christian and Protestant, evangelical/born-again. Protestant denominations includes Churches of Christ, Jehovah's Witnesses and Seventh-day Adventist.

Source: American Religious Identification Survey 2008, based on 54,000 interviews in 2008, margin of error +/- 0.5 percentage points.

                                

 

Supreme Court rules on government Ten Commandments displays

Wednesday, June 29, 2005; Posted: 4:35 p.m. EDT (20:35 GMT)

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Supreme Court struggled in a pair of 5-4 rulings Monday to define how much blending of church and state is constitutionally permissible, allowing the Ten Commandments to be displayed outside the Texas state Capitol but not inside Kentucky courthouses.

Source:  http://www.cnn.com/2005/LAW/06/27/scotus.commandments.ap/

Editor's Comment: If you cannot gain constitutional permission to display the Ten Commandments on government property in support of "religion", how would one expect to interest government in passing a "National Sunday Law" "in the name of religion"?

Adventist News Network
December 13, 1996

Sunday Laws Not an Option Now
Silver Spring, Maryland, USA... [ANN] Any "so-called" Sunday law legislation is not an option currently, according to United States congressman Roscoe Bartlett. During a luncheon meeting on December 10 at the Seventh-day Adventist Church World Headquarters in Silver Spring, Maryland, USA, Bartlett, was questioned regarding Congress and Sunday law legislation.

He forthrightly indicated that he saw under present circumstances practically no possibility for such legislation to be seriously considered, let alone enacted by Congress.

In his opinion, the oposition from the number of Jewish members of Congress and that of many others would be much to strong. Bartlett, who is a Seventh-day Adventist, explained that for any such legislation to come forward in a significant way, there would have to be "radical changes in American society."

For more than a century, Seventh-day Adventists have opposed work cessation Sunday blue laws, considering them to be religiously motivated and therefore unconstitutional, and furthermore discriminatory toward those observing another day of worship and rest.

Adventist News Network
July 15, 1997

French Government Reinstates Adventist Rights
Paris, France ... [ANN] French Seventh-day Adventist pupils can once again legally observe their day of rest due to pressure from a religious freedom group.

In a letter to the French chapter of the International Association for the Defence of Religious Liberty (IADRL), the office of Minister of Education confirmed it was granting permission for Jewish and Seventh-day Adventist students to be absent from school on Saturdays.

"In making this decision, the French government has reversed its policy which discriminated against religious minorities," says Maurice Verfaillie, Communication director for the Adventist Church in central and southern Europe.

Until 1993, each new minister of Education wrote letters granting permission for Adventists to be absent from compulsory attendance on Saturdays at France's public schools. The 1993 Waco tragedy and 1994 Solar Temple suicides led some French authorities to identify certain religious minorities as "dangerous sects." According to Verfaillie, media campaigns against such cults led to some school directors to mistakenly identify Adventists as a kind of unusual religion that should not be granted any kind of toleration. "The attitude of French school authorities hardened," said Verfaillie. "Many practising Jews and Seventh-day Adventists were not granted the right to freedom of conscience regarding Sabbath (Saturday) absences for religious motives."

A 1992 decree passed after Islamic agitation was cited as a reason to restrict religious freedom. As a result, some school directors refused to grant permission for Saturday absence. Now that right has been reinstated.

"There is no objection to pass on my letter to the families so that they can mention it, in case of difficulty, to the relevant academic authorities,"said cabinet director Denis Soubeyran while confirming that permission has now been granted again. "This is a great help to Adventist families, not only here in mainland France but also in French overseas territories," says Verfaillie. "It is also a great advantage to show the public that the Seventh-day Adventist Church is not considered a sect but as a church by French authorities. The letter from the minister of Education takes on particular importance in the context of the emotional agitation regarding the new religious movements and religious minority groups."

Turkmenistan: Adventist Church Services Permitted to Resume

March 21, 2005 Ashkhabad, Turkmenistan .... [Mark A. Kellner/ANN]

The resumption of weekly public worship for the Adventist Church in Turkmenistan may represent another milestone in religious freedom there. What is taken for granted in many parts of the world -- the right to peaceably assemble for worship and ownership of a church building -- has been a subject of great difficulty in the former Soviet state, now a republic, which is located in Central Asia, bordering the Caspian Sea, between Iran and Kazakhstan.

In November of 1999, a bulldozer began the demolition of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Ashkhabad. Last year, however, things began to change. In June, the Adventist Church received registration number 0001, the first Protestant congregation to be registered by the country's Ministry of Justice, church leaders said.

ANN Bulletin
Adventist News Network
Seventh-day Adventist Church World Headquarters
September 5, 2000

Adventist Leaders Welcome Changing Relationship Between Church and State in Sweden
Stockholm, Sweden .... [Bettina Krause]
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Eight months after historic legislation broke the more than 400-year bond between the state and the Lutheran Church of Sweden, Seventh-day Adventist Church leaders say the impact of the reform has been significant.

Pastor Per Bolling, president of the Adventist Church in Sweden says that while the day-to-day operation of the Adventist Church in Sweden remains nearly the same, the change has been very important in another sense.

"From a legal perspective, we are now permitted to be a church," says Bolling. "Up until the beginning of this year, there was legally only one church in this country. The rest of the churches were organized as voluntary associations-like football clubs, for instance-or foundations, or as limited companies owned by shareholders."

"Consequently, we applied to become a church, and we were registered as such in July this year," reports Bolling.

Bolling says that the legislation will result in social and cultural changes that may take years or decades to develop, including a gradual erosion in the Church of Sweden's monopoly as provider of rites of passage such as marriage and burial. In the short term, the reform will mean a significant reduction in the amount of government financial support for the Church of Sweden. The Church of Sweden has also gained more freedom in ordering its internal affairs; the appointment of bishops and deans will now be ecclesiastical rather than government decisions.

Dr. John Graz, director of the public affairs and religious liberty department of the Adventist Church worldwide, has also welcomed the changes, calling them a "movement towards a healthier, non-discriminatory environment in which the religious liberty of individuals is respected by the state." Graz says the reform reflects the already high level of tolerance for diverse religious traditions in Sweden.

Eighty-seven percent of the Swedish population belong to the Church of Sweden, and until 1996, Swedish citizens became members of the Church at birth. The Adventist Church has been active in Sweden since 1901.

ANN Bulletin
Adventist News Network
Seventh-day Adventist Church World Headquarters
August 30, 2000

Breakthrough for Sabbath-keeping Students in France
Paris, France .... [Bettina Krause]
-------------------------------------------------------
A letter issued by France's Minister of Education last week will make it easier for students to receive religious exemptions from school attendance on Saturdays.

While affirming that the principal of each school still has the discretion to grant or deny requests, the letter by National Education Minister Jack Lang identifies religious accommodation as a valid reason for a principal to grant an exemption.

"This is a significant breakthrough," says Dr. John Graz, director of the public affairs and religious liberty department of the Seventh-day Adventist Church worldwide. "There has been an ongoing, deteriorating situation in France where Adventist students have been denied permission to be absent from school on Saturday-their day of worship."

Graz says that from 1950 to 1981, France's Minister of Education issued an annual letter recommending such exemptions "almost as a matter of course."

"Since that time it has became more difficult," Graz says. In the past three to four years, dozens of Adventist students have failed to gain their principals' approval for Saturday absences. An Adventist student from Versailles was denied Sabbath accommodation and took his case to the European Court of Human Rights in 1999. Although the court ruled in the student's favor, teachers at his school went on strike when the ruling was implemented.

The timing of the minister's letter is significant, coming just weeks after France's National Assembly adopted a proposed anti-sect law. The law, which prompted expressions of concern from religious and human rights groups around the world when it was adopted on June 22, targets a list of 172 so-called sects. If passed by the Senate, the law would provide for the dissolution of religious organizations engaging in the poorly defined crime of "mental manipulation." Although the Adventist Church was not included on the list of sects, Graz says the law foreshadows an increasingly hostile environment for all religious minorities in France.

"There is an ideological battle against the principles of religious liberty in France," says Graz. He says that "widespread secularism," "public apathy towards religious freedom issues," and "a media-driven fear of small or unknown religious groups" has contributed to the current environment.

Graz says that it is difficult to know why France's Ministry of Education released the letter last week after stalling on the issue for more than three years. International bodies-including the United Nations and the U.S. Commission on Religious Freedom-expressed concern about France's increasingly hostile attitude towards religious minorities, which may have played a role, Graz believes.

Jean-Paul Bargoun and Jimmy Trujillo, Adventist church leaders in France, have been credited with obtaining the letter. They say that while the minister's letter has no binding legal effect, it may have "persuasive influence" on the decisions made by school principals.

The Seventh-day Adventist Church, which teaches that Saturday-the seventh day-is a day of worship and rest, has operated in France since the 1880s. The Adventist Church is a longtime proponent of religious liberty principles, believing that individuals should have the right to follow the dictates of conscience in matters of religion and worship.

CLINTON MOST SUPPORTIVE OF RELIGIOUS FREEDOM

After issuing his guidelines on religious expression in the federal workplace President Clinton has been hailed as the president most supportive of religious freedom in our nation's history!

Rabbi David Saperstein, director of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism said:

"[The Clinton administration] is the most supportive administration to religious freedom and religious liberty of American citizens of any administration in the history of this nation. Time and again, they have stood up on behalf of the rights of religious people in the schools, on behalf of religious freedom generally and now within the federal workplace."
The recently issued guidelines tell federal employers to reasonably accommodate employees' religious practices, including allowing them off in order to keep the Sabbath.

Waymarks, November 1997, Vol. 2, No. 5, p. 2.
Waymarks is published by the Southern Union Department of Public Affairs and Religious Liberty

Anti-Catholic Newspaper Ad, January 5, 2001
Des Moines Register

Perez anticipates national laws will be passed that require Sunday worship. He contends enacting those laws would be a sign of the end of the world. Adventists believe Saturday is the Sabbath.

Reid said there is no danger of Sunday-law legislation. He also called Perez's ad campaign "manufactured danger."

"He's a loose cannon on the deck," Reid said.

Hector Avalos, associate professor of religion at Iowa State University, said he does not think the nation is moving toward Sunday laws. "I think we're moving away from them," Avalos said. "At one point the Supreme Court thought they were good, but legally and culturally we're far away from this happening."

Note: Red-colored text added at this site for emphasis.

Adventist News Network
 Released by: Ray Dabrowski
Phone: +31-30-955-324 (June 29-July 8) or +301-680-6300

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 2, 1995

PARLIAMENT VOTES CHURCH - STATE ACT WITH THE SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTIST CHURCH

Warsaw, Poland... After five years of negotiations, the Polish Parliament (Sejm) has approved the text of a law which regulates the relations between the Polish Republic and the Seventh-day Adventist Church.

According to Zachariasz Lyko, the Church's counsel, who represented the Church in the legislative negotiations, "this Act of Parliament is of historical proportions. Our Church not only received a legal status in the country, but that status makes the Church equal before the law just like other denominations, including the Roman Catholic Church."

The parliament acknowledges that the Church in Poland is a part of the worldwide Seventh-day Adventist Church, and recognizes the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists as the highest authority in doctrinal and ecclesiastical matters. News of the parliamentary decision was announced by world Church president, Robert S. Folkenberg, to the participants of the world congress of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, meeting in Utrecht, The Netherlands, just hours after the vote of approval in Sejm on Friday, June 30.

The law establishes the Church's jurisdictions and describes its relationship with the state. It guarantees full religious freedom for Adventists, ensuring that their Sabbath rights in the work place and school will be honored. Free Saturday is also guaranteed for military personnel.

The Church has full autonomy in its operations, governed by its own statute. Freedom of its missionary work is guaranteed, together with the Church's public activities. Regarding the day of worship, the law recognizes Saturday as that day. Believers have a right to be free from work and studies between sunset on Friday and sunset on Saturday.

The law states that Adventists are awarded an opportunity to teach religion to Adventist students in public schools. The Church is also guaranteed the full right to establish and operate institutions, including schools of all levels, publishing houses, foundations and other entities. The Church is guaranteed the right to military chaplaincy.

The law received support of practically all members of parliament, with only three abstentions, and was part of a legal package that received parliamentary passage for three other churches, including Baptists, Methodists and Polish Catholics. Now, the law is being sent to the Polish Senate and will await the president's signature which will make it legally binding.

Dr. B. B. Beach, public affairs director of the world Church, states that, "The passing of this law is a remarkable religious liberty victory for the Polish Seventh-day Adventist Church. This marks the climax of many years of negotiations and increasing positive relations between the Polish state and the Church!"

The law is similar to recently passed legislations in Italy and Spain which gives separate and legal recognition to the Adventist Church and the religious needs of its members.

-end-

Source:
http://www.adventist.org/world_church/official_meetings/1995gcsession/070203ann.txt

Professional Licensure opens to Sabbatarians in Philippines
December 12, 2000 Manila, Philippines .... [[Raquel Floresta Operana/Charlotte McClure]

Philippine President Joseph Ejercito Estrada signed into law a significant bill for Seventh-day Adventists on December 8. The "Professional Regulation Commission Modernization Bill" ensures that Philippine professional licensure examinations will only be scheduled on weekdays and not on Saturdays, Sundays and holidays.

Many Seventh-day Adventists in the Philippines had been denied professional licensure in the past because the examinations were scheduled on Saturdays, the Adventists' Sabbath day. "Because Adventists chose not to attend classes or examinations on their Sabbath, many professional people had to wait years to get licensed," says Jemima Orillosa, a native of the Philippines who currently works in Secretariat at the Seventh-day Adventist Church's world headquarters in Silver Spring, Maryland, USA. "A person applying for their Certified Public Accountant (CPA) license, for instance, might be able to take one part of the exam and then wait long years to find other parts of the exam scheduled for a weekday," she adds.

Congressman Harlin C. Abayon (First District, Northern Samar), who worked on this bill, intentionally sought chairmanship of the Civil Service Committee in the Philippine House of Representatives so that he could help members of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. Together with Pastor Bienvenido Tejano, Philippine Ambassador to Papua New Guinea and religious liberty director for the church's North Philippine region, Abayon worked with the country's legislators for the bill to be passed first in the House of Representatives and later in the Senate.

Earlier in his term, President Estrada had issued an administrative order to the Professional Regulation Commission that examinations should not be done on Saturdays, but Pastor Tejano and Congressman Abayon wanted the assurance of seeing the intention put into law to ensure that Sabbath examinations be avoided in the future.

After signing the bill, President Estrada said, "I have fulfilled my promise."

Among the witnesses to the signing of the bill were Congressman Abayon and his wife, Ambassador Tejano, Violeto F. Bocala, president of the Southern Asia-Pacific region of the Adventist Church, Howard F. Faigao, associate publishing director of the Seventh-day Adventist Church worldwide, Alberto C. Gulfan, Jr., president of the Central Philippine Union Mission; Pastor Hiskia I. Missah, youth director and director of religious liberty in the Southern Asia-Pacific region, and Nestor D. Dayson, president of the North Philippine Union Mission.

Adventist News Network

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Proposed Law Would Protect Brazilian Sabbath-Keepers
Brasília, Brazil .... [Siloé de Almeida/ASN/ANN Staff]
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Proposed legislation aimed at protecting the rights of Brazilian Sabbath-keepers moved another step forward last week when it was approved by a high-level government committee.

The Committee of Constitution and Justice of the Brazilian House of Deputies approved the "project," or proposed legislation, March 20 [2002].

The legislation, authored by Deputy Silas Brasileriro, is intended to protect citizens whose religious convictions do not allow them to undertake study or exams on Saturday. If passed, the law would allow for entry-exams for federal public administration to be held on Sunday, and would prevent other public examinations, college entrance examinations, and school tests being held on Saturdays.

"Such projects are based on the constitutional principle [assuring] the inviolability of freedom of conscience and belief, and reaffirming that no one will be denied rights because of religious belief or philosophical or political conviction," said Deputy Geraldo Magela, CCJ recorder.

The proposed legislation now goes for final editorial analysis and will then be considered by the Federal Senate. "The last step for this victory in the field of religious liberty will be approval in a plenary session of the Federal Senate," explained Magela.

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Norway Considers Dramatic Reform of Church-State Ties
Oslo, Norway .... [Bettina Krause/ANN] [April 2002]
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It's time to loosen the centuries-old ties between the Lutheran Church and the Norwegian government, according to a four-year commission into the country's traditional church-state relationship. The Church/State commission, set up by the Lutheran Church of Norway, released its recommendations earlier this month, saying that "all churches and religious societies in Norway should be treated equally." The report also calls on members of the Church of Norway to "take responsibility for their church, both financially and in practical leadership."

"This is indeed good news for all free churches in Norway," says Tor Tjeransen, president of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Norway. "Although free churches in Norway are given ample room to function and operate, there is no doubt that it is an anachronism to operate a state church."

Separation between church and state would require a change in the Norwegian Constitution, which in turn requires the vote of two different parliaments, explains Tjeransen. He says the issue won't be finalized before 2005, at the earliest.

Under the country's 1814 Constitution, the king is the head of the Church of Norway, and he exercises this power through the Government Council of State. The parliament deals with church finances and passes legislation relating to church affairs. Since 1660 the king had been responsible for appointing all church leaders, including parish pastors. Although this process was reformed in 1989, higher-ranking church officials continue to receive their appointment from a select state committee.

Recognition of Norway's growing religious pluralism was a significant factor in prompting this review of the church-state relationship, say leaders of the Church of Norway. Although there has been a steady increase over the past decade in Norway's Muslim and non-Lutheran Christian groups, an overwhelming majority of Norwegians still belong to the Church of Norway; at last count some 86 percent. In 2000, 82 percent of babies born in Norway were baptized into this church.

Norway remains one of the few countries of the world to maintain a state church. The commission's report, expected to generate significant public debate in Norway, follows the decision of the Lutheran Church in neighboring Sweden to sever church-state ties two years ago.

ANN Bulletin
Adventist News Network
Seventh-day Adventist Church World Headquarters
September 11, 2002

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New Hope for Sabbath-Keeping Students in Ukraine
Kiev, Ukraine .... [Valery Ivanov/Rebecca Scoggins/ANN]
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Ukrainian authorities have recommended that educational institutions schedule all major exams on weekdays rather than on Saturdays or Sundays, which are holy days for many religious groups.

The Voice of Truth (Golos Istiny), a Seventh-day Adventist periodical in eastern Ukraine, reports that the Ukrainian Ministry of Education and Science made the recommendation this summer in a letter sent to all public schools, institutes, and universities in the country. The action comes in response to a petition submitted by Ukrainian Adventists on behalf of students and parents who worship on Saturday.

"We are so happy that our voice has been heard in this case," says Valery Ivanov, communication director for Adventists in Euro-Asia. "This recommendation allows students to follow their convictions in celebrating the seventh day. It is important not only for Adventists in Ukraine but also for Jewish people, Sabbath-keeping Pentecostals, and other groups who honor the Bible Sabbath."

Although the Soviet Union was officially atheistic, school exams were rarely scheduled on Sundays even during the Communist era. However, Saturday was often a day for school and work, and this practice has continued in many former Soviet nations. Students who don't attend classes or take exams on Saturdays can fail their courses and lose the opportunity to attend universities.

Adventist students in Ukraine, Russia, and nearby nations usually deal with the challenge of Saturday exams by asking individual teachers and schools for permission to test on another day. Sometimes they are successful, but Ukrainian Adventists hope that the new recommendation will provide a stronger atmosphere of religious tolerance.

Ukraine is one of the most religiously diverse nations in Euro-Asia, with significant numbers of Orthodox believers, several branches of the Catholic Church, and numerous Protestant denominations. The country is also home to the largest remaining Jewish communities in the former Soviet Union.

The Kimberley Daily Bulletin
Anglican church mulls change of worship day

Cullman County To Vote On Sunday Closing Laws

POSTED: 2:02 pm CDT October 19, 2004

CULLMAN, Ala. -- Cullman County residents will get the chance to vote for an amendment November 2 allowing businesses to open Sunday from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m.

Currently the local blue law allows most retail stores to open only from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. Sundays. Supporters say people need a day off to attend church or be with their families, while opponents say people need the extra day for shopping.

Blue laws were common throughout Alabama until the 1970s and 1980s when court challenges, law changes and consumer complaints wiped them from the books or relaxed them.

The Alabama League of Municipalities has no record of any other county still enforcing laws limiting Sunday business hours.

A Wal-Mart manager said he supports a repeal of the law because it encourages Cullman shoppers to do business elsewhere on Sunday.

Source: http://www.nbc13.com/news/3833114/detail.html

Companies Ban 'Christmas,' Not Worried About Backlash

  Several retailers have joined in the push to ban the use of "Christmas" in their in-store promotions and retail advertising. The new push to eliminate "Christmas" and replace it with "Happy Holidays," "Season's Greetings," etc. is gaining ground with several retailers participating.

   Not wanting to offend a handful of complainers, these companies are willing to offend the vast majority who hold Christmas as a time to celebrate the birth of Christ. Their attitude is that those who identify themselves as Christians don't care if they eliminate "Christmas."

                                                                                          Source: November 23, 2005 Email 

             American Family Association
                    P O Drawer 2440
                   Tupelo, MS 38803
                    1-662-844-5036

   COMMENTARY: When retailers are even considering to "ban the use of 'Christmas' in their in-store promotions and retail advertising," you can be assured that society is not favorable to vote for or promote a National Sunday Law, honoring the "Christian Sabbath."

Additional Related Links

Family Christian Stores Open on Sunday Nationwide
Lord's Day Alliance Answers Questions About Sunday Laws
A Social Statement of The American Lutheran Church
The National Suday Law Dilemma for Historic SDAs
Divine accommodations: Religion in the workplace
Sabbath observer wins suit on firing Pueblan awarded $2.25 million
For Many, Sundays are as Busy as the Rest of the Week
When Traditional Becomes Radical
On the Seventh Day - They Closed Shop
Brazilian Lawmakers Work to Insure Saturday Freedoms
Canadians "love to shop" on Sundays
CANADA: Sunday Closing and Weekly Rest
Sunday Closing Laws in Virginia

Email: Sunday_Laws@csda-adventistchurch.to