I recall from childhood one of the lingering echoes of our forebears’ attempts to establish our nation as a “city on the hill”. The now infamous “blue laws” prohibited much mercantile activity on Sundays. The original rationale was to help Christians observe their sabbath.

Roots of these laws reach deep into the spiritual fervor of colonists who arrived on the East Coast in the 17th century. Always prominent in such reflections are the Puritans of New England, but consider also the 1611 foundation laws of the Anglican colony of Virginia, which are the earliest set of English laws produced in the Western Hemisphere:

As also every man and woman shall repair in the morning to the divine service and sermons preached upon the Sabbath day in the afternoon to divine service and catechizing, upon pain for the first fault to lose their provision and allowance for the whole week following, for the second to lose the said allowance and also to be whipped, and for the third to suffer death.
(You can read this document online here).

Even after the adoption of a secular constitution, blue laws enjoyed widespread support in the U.S. Blue laws were not only supported by religious people, but were also celebrated by organized labor. An online history of the 1909 blue law in Washington state noted the following.

Some labor organizations supported the broad ban the Blue Law placed on commercial activities on Sunday, in order to preserve it as a day off for their members. For example, meat was a product that supposedly could not be sold on Sunday. This gave the butchers’ union a successful argument against merchants requiring butchers to work on that day. (from HistoryLink).

In the mid to late 20th century, there was a rush to abolish these laws. Now they linger on only in a few isolated locales. I don’t recall hearing any great rationale for this change, just something about them being old fashioned, like the spate of stately Victorian and beaux arts buildings that occasionally got slated for demolition in order to build parking lots or condos. Just one more thing for decent ordinary people to suck up–another thing that couldn’t be stopped–in the name of “progress.”

To be fair, although I may not recall them, valid arguments have actually been cited. One was that such laws amounted to discrimination against non-Christian minorities. Church-state concerns have also been raised, and have led to court battles, in which the constitutionality of blue laws has been upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court (for example, McGowan vs Maryland in 1961). Another reason often advanced is cash flow, an example of which we saw as recently as 2010, when New Jersey governor Chris Christie urged repeal of blue laws in order to increase revenue to the state. He cited Bergen County, one of the last last places to keep its malls closed on Sunday, as “costing” the state $65 million in potential tax revenue.

The loss of the “blue laws” has not necessarily been to everyone’s advantage. On a clearly economic basis, it is debatable whether the blue laws have actually helped or hurt localities. It may increase some economic activities and diminish others (Goos, 2005).

It has clearly harmed attendance at churches, which must now compete with shopping malls and an ever growing variety of Sunday morning activities such as youth sports. (To be clear I don’t believe that blue laws are solely to blame for emptying our churches–many other factors can be cited). In concert with declining church attendance, other social ills can be correlated with this change. One study finds that blue law repeal is associated with a decrease in measures of happiness, particularly among women, even as Sunday shopping has increased. (Cohen-Zada and Sander, 2010)

Consider also the findings of a study by economists Jonathan Gruber of MIT and Daniel Hungerman of the University of Notre Dame, published in 2008.

Using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY) on consumption of alcohol and illegal drugs, the economists found that repealing the blue laws did lead to an increase in drinking and drug use.
What’s more, they found that individuals who had attended church and stopped after the blue laws were repealed showed the greatest increase in substance abuse, Gruber notes.(a summary with link to the journal can be found at MIT News).

A 2014 study from Dara Lee at University of Missouri Columbia indicates that opening the malls on Sunday has caused decreased graduation rates and decrease in number of years in school, along with an increase in risky behaviors (Available online here).

What does it matter? Well, I certainly don’t expect blue laws to make a comeback. Like a lot of changes that happened in the 20th century, you really can’t close the proverbial “Pandora’s Box”. As individual Christians, though, we should do our best to “remember the Sabbath to keep it holy.” We should continue to try to put God first in our lives. That means going to church and perhaps missing out on some sales. It may mean explaining to our sons why they can’t play travel ball on Sundays. Although it won’t be as easy, we should be committed to carving out a time and space for Sabbath rest within our own busy worlds, to focus on God and his purposes for us.

With respect to the larger society, we should also be more vocal and strident in insisting that society “count the costs” before making changes that affect us. We should ask that purely financial goals be weighed against the non-financial harms that might ensue.