Wednesday, March 12, 2008

It's Time GA Came Out of the 18th Century Blue Laws

Those morons under the GA Gold Dome are at it again. They have buried the bill that would allow the local community to decide to offer Sunday package sales by sending it on at the last possible minute, effectively giving it little time for consideration. As the OnlineAthens article said: That failure should prompt a majority of Georgia voters to carefully consider whether those lawmakers deserve re-election later this year.

Let's go back 400 years. It's Sunday. And you're in trouble. Lots of trouble. You see, back, then there were all sorts of religious rules that were passed as laws designed to make people be moral & upright. These "Blue Laws" prescribed all sorts of penalties for Sunday Crimes & Misdemeanors. Everything from whippings, to public stocks in the courthouse square, to burnt tongues, to severed ears. All of those were punishments for such High Crimes as missing church, playing cards or shuffleboard, sweeping the floor, cutting hair, or even having any alcohol --- on Sunday.

Yes sirrrreeeee. They may live like a heathen Monday through Saturday, but you better believe we'll have 'em sitting on the church pews Sunday AM singing [i]Amazing Grace[/i] with the rest of the God-fearing crowd. Amen & amen & amen!

Horse feathers.

Since then most of these legal bans have gone the way of the Scarlet Letter, but not all. That's right. You still can't buy package alcohol on Sundays GA.

Lord, do we need Cotton Mather to run for governor now?

Critics of mine will say that I am calling for the Sunday to be like any other day. Well, for once, the critics are right.

So let's go into the arguments:

1) People need a day where they don't drink. Answer: it ain't any of your business if someone drinks or not.

2) We don't want people coming to church drunk. Answer: you're kidding, right? Like they will come anyway? You had rather they come in with a humongous hangover from the night before? Sure. Pass the plate on that one, Rev. Robert Tilman.

3) Sunday is the Lord's Day. Answer: right! That means it ain't yours so let others chose for themselves.

4) Hmmmm. I can't think of any more.

Now look. Jesus is Lord everyday of the week, not just on Sunday. So that "Holy Day of the Week" stuff went out when the temple curtain was split. Read The Letter to the Hebrews. There is now a perfect rest for the people of God & it is not on a day of the week but in the Person of Christ everyday of the week, not just on the Sabbath. Wait . . . Sunday ain't the Sabbath anyway. But I know some of you won't let simple facts get in the way of a Good Righteous Cause.

So if there are no alcohol sales on Sunday, but a church uses real wine in the Communion Cup (like =every= church did until Dr Welch packaged non-fermenting grape juice in 1893) . . .? Sounds hypocritical to me. And you refuse to work on Sunday but you'll go out to eat & pay someone to work for you? We have a word for paying someone to do your sinning --- it's called prostitution.

For those believers out there who don't worship on Sunday, I apologize for this insane law. For you non-Christians out there, I apologize for this gross infringement on your rights. For those who, as a matter of conscience, see nothing wrong with drinking in moderation but are prohibited from buying a bottle of wine on Sunday, I apologize for the zeal of others that constrains you.

Yes, Jesus drank wine but if He comes to GA, on a Sunday, we have outlawed Him from buying a bottle of wine for His meal. This is not Guinness vs. God, but a time to stop the religious zeal that infringes on the rights of others.

It is time to repeal the Sunday prohibition against alcohol sales.

Send the legislators an email & at tell 'em to let the local communities decide.

Glenn Richardson -- grichardson@vtrc-law.com
Bill Heath -- billheath@billheath.net
Howard Maxwell -- hmaxwell@legis.state.ga.us
Bill Hamrick -- bill.hamrick@senate.ga.gov

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Ryan:
Fox here; check out Aaron Weaver's blogs on David Gushee and the Evangelical Right and Left.
I think you will be glad you did. Hope you can engage others in the Memphis Declaration in that discussion

Georgia Mountain Man said...

Now, Now, Ryan. You know good and well that the wine written about in the Bible was only grape juice. I know that because, when Union County, Georgia was voting on package sales for Mon - Sat, one of our good local citizens put us straight with that little tidbit of trivia. I didn't know that refrigeration had been invented back then, but I'm just an ignorant sinner who drinks a glass of wine or a beer on occasion. By the way, we still have to make liquor runs to another county and wish we could just get it Mon - Sat. As we all know, "Sonny knows best."

Anonymous said...

Hi Ryan,
Been awhile since I've had the chance to stop by. As you may have guessed, I disagree with the idea of Sunday alcohol sales. The main premise in favor of it, is of course, money and nothing else. It has nothing to do with "letting the people decide" anything. Businesses want it so they can make even more money. I understand businesses have to make a profit to remain solvent, but the main proponents are much larger companies already making a handsome profit. It's the Rockefeller notion of wanting "just a little bit more." This is what led to Sunday becoming just another business day. Business owners pushed for it because their bills were seven days a week, not six. One business owner who destroys this notion is S. Truet Cathy. Worth $1.3 BILLION, and never open on Sunday. Jasper Jeep a few years ago received an award for selling more Jeeps than any dealership in the nation. Again, never on Sunday. I'm not quite 50 yet, and I remember when many businesses were closed all weekend. Monday through Friday only. And you know what? As a society, we did just fine. We always had our groceries, gas, and anything else we needed by planning ahead. This allowed faiths such as those of the Jewish faith and Seventh Day Adventists to be off from work and worship on their Sabbath.

Now for your three arguments: none of my business if a person drinks or not? It becomes my business as soon as they share the road with me. The number of alcohol involved fatality traffic accidents is approaching 50%. The cost in domestic violence calls received by law enforcement - yep, my business too, because that means the safety of the rest of us is reduced by pulling officers off the street to deal with drunk violent couples. Alcohol or other drugs are so rarely not involved in these cases that the result would be less than 1%, or statistically 0. Having just ONE day of the week where we can have a break from some of this mess? You betcha. I don't think it's too much to ask. Increase the availability of alcohol or other drugs, increase of incidents.

Never heard the next one, didn't want people coming to church drunk. I would not be a part of church that would not allow an intoxicated person in, these type of people are the very ones the church is there for - or should be.

Sunday being the Lord's day - go back to my earlier statement where most businesses were closed on Saturdays AND Sundays. I wouldn't mind a couple of quiet, non-traffic jammed days, but that's just me. And you know, many businesses used to close early on Wednesday or were closed entirely so the owners and employees could attend church. Did they hurt for money? No. Actually made a living. Imagine that.

Now for the things I agree with you on. Many still object to restaurants and other businesses being open on Sunday, but will go eat out every Sunday. If JUST the church people would boycott restaurants on Sunday, the restaurants would not be able to remain open on Sunday. Yes, we've all seen the vast majority of people eating on Sunday are church people.

I don't know about your blanket statement that every church used real wine for Communion until 1893. I have never seen a blanket statement yet that was valid. Many think the Bible contradicts itself with the use of wine in the New Testament and the teaching against it such as Eph. 5:18, "Do not get drunk on wine which leads to debauchery" (NIV);Prov. 20:1, "Wine is a mocker and beer a brawler, whoever is led astray by them is not wise." (NIV) and many more. There is no contradiction as the word for wine in the New Testament that Jesus used was not the fermented wine the Bible teaches against. There was no better translation from the originial Greek and Hebrew to English, so the translators had to use the word wine for both.

In summary, the cost for making alcohol even more available is way too high. It's much higher than any little bit of tax money garnered from it. The cost in additional traffic injuries and fatalities alone far outweighs any perceived benefit. And lest anyone again be mis-led, this proprosal is about nothing more than money, beginning and end of it. It has nothing to do with so-called religious zeal infringing on the rights of others. That's just the peg liberals hang their hats on. Personally, I would like to stop the liberal left from continuing to infringe on my rights starting with The First Amendment!