Medium combines church’s Sunday rest day with state authority

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A popular newspaper in a deeply Catholic country cleverly combines the truth about the transformation of the biblical Sabbath into Sunday sanctity with a fabricated symbolism of the Sunday day of rest as an expression of state authority.

Sunday propaganda on a secular level

The promotion of Sunday, the first day of the week, as a universal, worldwide day of rest is gaining momentum. The desired Sunday rest has long since ceased to be a purely religious or ecclesiastical issue, but has become a central topic in secular society as well. The day of rest, generally one day per week, is not only desirable but absolutely necessary for reasons of nature and climate protection. One of the simplistic calculations presented in support of this claim describes a reduction of approximately 14 percent in CO₂ emissions for “Mother Earth.” After all, humans and their machines are at rest, and suddenly a number is presented to people that would, fictitiously, banish the usual “CO₂ polluters” into temporary non-existence.

Finally, the first manufacturers of so-called food products are already beginning to display the CO₂ emissions generated by the production of their bulky food products, in addition to the traffic light and letter system (A to E) that reduces the need for critical thinking when indicating “healthy or unhealthy”. Since color gradations ranging from deep green to bright red still seem too complicated, the so-called Nutri-Score system is explained in detail as a precaution. (Source). In this way, society has long been, to put it mildly, sensitized to the issue of “unconditional Sunday rest”, accompanied by the potential for a bad conscience.

Sunday is of course

For most Christian churches, Sunday rest is beyond question. Sunday is, after all, the “The Lord’s Day“, a day for devotion and worship, a time to cease work, and to enjoy the afternoon’s rest.

It’s not even whispered in hushed tones that the Gospel openly and honestly communicates the divinely ordained day of rest on the seventh day of the week, which, according to our Gregorian calendar, falls precisely between Friday sunset and Saturday sunset. And surprisingly, even secular media outlets are addressing this religious topic and explaining the facts and the history surrounding the Sabbath and Sunday correctly.

A truly astonishing statement.

The renowned and very popular newspaper “Listín Diario” (published for approximately 136 years) in the Dominican Republic dedicated an entire article to the topic of Sunday and its history. This is a country with nearly 60 percent Catholicism, about 20 percent Protestantism, and only 17 percent no religious affiliation. The title itself, “SUNDAY: Constantine’s Legacy as a Day of Rest,” quite accurately points to the originator of the Christian day of rest, which is still observed today. (Source).

The introductory text is also astonishing. It quotes Genesis 2:3:
“And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made.“

Since the roots of humanity

This is followed by the further, correct observation that the practice of a weekly day of rest dates back to the very roots of humanity. However, things then become somewhat vague, as the Sabbath is presented as a Judeo-Christian tradition. While Judeo-Christian is accurate, it is not actually a tradition, but rather the concrete Fourth Commandment of God (Exodus 20:8-11). Finally, the utmost restraint in refraining from theft, manslaughter, adultery, polytheism, cursing one’s parents, envy, etc., is also not a cultivated tradition, but a clear commandment from God (10 Commandments).

Correct: Sabbath since creation

Sunday as a day of rest is the result of complex “historical, religious, and legal developments.” The newspaper asks how this shift from Sabbath to Sunday came about, pointing out that, according to the Bible, the Sabbath originated in Genesis 2:2-3. It was the completion of God’s creation (Info). From this arose the Fourth Commandment. For Judaism, this was a binding practice for many centuries, as it was for Christianity in its early stages, according to another accurate account. The turning point came on March 7, 321 AD. Emperor Constantine, the ruler of predominantly pagan, imperial Rome, issued an edict declaring Sunday (the first day of the week) a mandatory day of rest. This edict had an effect as a civil-religious dogma in the emerging “imperial Christendom”.

Sunday was not religiously motivated

One is still amazed. The article points out that this decision to observe Sunday instead of the Sabbath was motivated not by Christian conviction, but by cultural reasons. Sunday was dedicated to the glorification of the Roman Emperor Constantine, the day of “Sol Invictus” (“Unconquered Sun”), the revered sun god. A symbol of the emperor’s personal faith. This stands in stark contrast to the narrative of the Roman Catholic Church, which proclaims that Constantine converted to Christianity and instituted Sunday for this purpose. However, it is historically considered (almost) certain that the emperor only converted to Christianity on his deathbed, after his mother had already converted to Catholicism.

At the Synod of Laodicea (363-364), the shift of worship to Sunday was also formally established at the ecclesiastical level. Canon 29, the result of this synod, states:
“Christians should not Judaize by resting on the Sabbath, but should work on that day and honor the Lord’s Day.” The term “Lord’s Day” (“Dies Dominicus”) used by the Church is rooted in the concept of “Sunday” in numerous Romance languages. Those who subsequently continued to observe the biblical Sabbath were cursed and excommunicated by the Church.

Reaffirming the self-evident nature of Sundays

In 1998, Pope John Paul II engaged in a rhetorical balancing act by recalling the significance of Sunday in his Apostolic Letter. “It is therefore necessary to reread the great aspect of creation and to delve deeper into the theology of the Sabbath in order to arrive at a full understanding of Sunday.“

Legal protection

The weekly day of rest has long since transcended its religious significance, the newspaper reports, and has become a recognized right of employees in most Western countries. The Dominican Republic also has a clear provision for this in its current labor code (Law 16-92). Article 163 stipulates that every employee is entitled to a weekly rest period of 36 consecutive hours. However, a specific day of the week is not defined. Since there is no explicit agreement on this, the period from Saturday noon to the end of Sunday has been agreed upon. This also serves as a symbolic reminder of the “old Sabbath.”

The evolution of the day of rest demonstrates that since the Roman Empire changed the Sabbath to Sunday, religious norms and legal structures have been intertwined to this day. Today, Sunday as a day of rest is not only a time for mental and physical recovery for workers, but is also imbued with symbolism, spirituality, and social justice. Centuries of history, faith, power, and law are united by the Sunday of rest.

Manuscript of the Papacy

Just as the country is shaped by Roman Catholicism, so too is the representation in the Dominican newspaper. The portrayal of the holy seventh day (“Saturday”)—established by God as the Fourth Commandment for the completion of His creation and as a symbol of identification with the one living God and Creator—to the point of the matter-of-fact intertwining of the religious aspect with state and political concerns, bears the unique hallmarks of the Roman Catholic Church. We have long since become accustomed to everything being self-evident, even divinely ordained.

The aspect of Catholic social teaching based on natural law (social justice, common good, good will, etc.) and the supposed naturalness of its authority, including its authority over the state, clearly represents the papacy’s core desire. The unrestricted and undivided power over religion and state (Info)

Sunday as a day of rest is the visible union of faith and power, according to the Dominican media outlet. In essence, this is a clear statement, treated as an infallible tradition of the Roman Catholic Church.

The war waged by the Church against the divinely ordained seventh-day Sabbath, a war based on the imperial Roman Empire since its beginnings, continues uninterrupted to this day (Info). If the papacy achieves its goal, and it will for a short time, swords will once again be drawn against those who steadfastly adhere to God’s commandment.

Bible verses from King James Version (1611)