Prosecution of Sabbath keepers has long existed

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The persecution of Christians by Christians for not observing the prescribed Sunday, but rather God’s law regarding the Sabbath, is not a distant prospect. There were concrete examples in the United States at the end of the 19th century of Sabbath observance being met with imprisonment and penal labor.

Area 1888 gives a good example

The “Blue Law,” known in the USA as legislation for the separate regulation of Sundays, experienced a temporary peak in 1888. There was a debate about implementing this Sunday law nationwide, i.e., across the entire USA. It ultimately failed. These Blue Laws are currently experiencing a renaissance, once again in the USA.

What has long been common practice in Germany, as Sunday protection has been enshrined in the Weimar Constitution since 1919, and the Basic Law also explicitly refers to the relevant articles of the Constitution, has once again become a hot topic in the USA, the “land of the free.” The government program “Project 2025” directly mentions the special emphasis on Sundays, and in the “Christian sense” it is even declared the “Christian Sabbath.” (Info)

It does not have to be a religious aspect

The US Supreme Court cites the US Constitution, which explicitly precludes cooperation between church and state. However, there is a possible loophole. The directive from the highest court in the US applies to the entire US, while legal regulation in each of the 50 states is certainly possible. Such a legal regulation, however, must not be of a religious nature. So, no problem. Sunday laws could also be implemented under the label “common good” and “social cohesion.” A moral, ethical matter, “Will of the Church? Oh, come on!”

A misunderstanding, and often falsely portrayed today, is that the United States has ever been a Christian state. This is prohibited by the Constitution itself, which mandates a strict separation between church and state. This was one of the most pressing concerns of the founding fathers of the United States. While the states were predominantly populated by Protestant Christians at the time of their founding, the state itself had nothing to do with religion or the church. (Info).

Blue Laws were something special

In fact, there was much more to the emergence of the Blue Laws around 1888 than one might suspect. What is generally known about this incident concerned federal legislation. Individual states had long since enacted Sunday laws, maintained them even beyond 1888, and even enforced them. In other words, they imposed penalties and sanctions on those who did not adhere to the Sunday dictate.

This particularly affected the Protestant Seventh-day Adventist Church. The focus there is primarily on the seventh day of the week, which falls on Saturday. The seventh day is a biblical law that was merely shifted to Sunday, the first day of the week, by the early Roman Catholic Church’s own legislation. This human tradition is maintained to this day by the Church of Rome, as well as by almost all Evangelical Lutheran churches, and the numerous free churches. (Info).

State level underestimated

At the end of the 19th century, individual US states had actually enacted such Sunday laws, which not only prescribed Sunday as a religious day of separate worship but also prohibited the observance of the Sabbath. A lobby group called the “National Reform Association” launched a campaign as early as 1864 with the goal of amending the US Constitution to declare the US a “Christian nation.” After failing to achieve success, the lobby organization began working on the individual states.

The Blue Laws refer to the state level, not to Washington in relation to the US as a whole. The lobby group was not without success at this level. The result was even the criminal prosecution of Seventh-day Adventists who did not comply with the local Sunday law and were thus convicted as criminals. In the state of Tennessee (Henry County and Rhea County), a convict gang that had previously been shut down due to lack of profitability was even reactivated to allow the imprisoned Seventh-day Adventists to work in chains (American Sentinel, September 5, 1895).

Specific cases at the end of the 19th century

On July 18, 1892, several “criminals” were led through the streets of Paris, Tennessee, to clear snow from the highway. These “criminals” violated the local Sunday law and some had already been in jail for over 40 days. They were charged and convicted, among other things, of engaging in “customary employment” on a Sunday, including plowing and hoeing. Three of the inmates were Seventh-day Adventists, two of whom were 55 and 62 years old (National Religious Liberty Association, 1892). These three were involved in the following incident:

Working on your own farm

In Tennessee, there was an additional law providing for a fine of no more than $100 for committing a nuisance, and Tennessee courts have ruled that “a succession of such acts constitutes a nuisance and is punishable.” On this basis, the Henry County grand jury convicted five Seventh-day Adventist members on May 27, 1892, for performing work on their own farm near Springville on a Sunday. All six witnesses called testified that they were not bothered by this work.

One of the defendants was chopping wood, the other was unloading the wood in front of the wagon. One was picking strawberries. All this took place off the public highway, on their own property.

The defendants informed the jury that they were Seventh-day Adventists and observed the Sabbath, a law of God, instead of Sunday. Nevertheless, after less than 15 minutes of deliberation, the jury agreed that all defendants were guilty. They were sentenced to a fine. After refusing to pay, they were forced into “substitute confinement” for between 45 and 53 days.

Gradually and subterraneously

The gradual introduction of Sunday law in the USA is still taking place today, but rather gradually and subtly. Doomsayers claim that there is no sign of a nationwide Sunday law anywhere. This may well be true at this level, as long as one ignores the plans according to Project 2025. But at the state level, there are already laws restricting or completely prohibiting various activities on Sundays.

Two areas are hunting and car sales. Both are already prohibited in Maine and Pennsylvania. Only hunting on Sundays is prohibited in Connecticut, North Carolina, and West Virginia. Cars are not permitted to be sold on Sundays in North Dakota, Oklahoma, Michigan, Minnesota, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, and Maryland.

Subtle backdoor – Greece as a prime example

The example of Greece demonstrates how indirectly, yet deliberately, such Sunday legislation can be implemented. An EU country hit by the “euro crisis,” with a debt level of around 130% of its gross domestic product, it was declared a patient requiring forced treatment, but with a debt level of over 170%, it was released as cured. Radical cuts to healthcare and pension payments were made in Greece. New rules were also formulated for employees.

They are required to complete a minimum weekly workload. At the same time, the legislature also regulated the maximum number of daily working hours. In order to meet the minimum weekly workload without exceeding the maximum daily working hours, one is forced to work six days a week. Since Sunday is (officially) a day off in Orthodox Greece, work must be carried out from Monday to Saturday. In this way, it is quite possible, without explicitly addressing the issue, to protect Sunday and enforce the Sabbath as a working day.

Circumnavigation only possible to a limited extent

The fact that criminal prosecution is also threatened if work is performed on one’s own property, away from public view, on a Sunday, and one ends up before a judge due to denunciation, is quite a peculiar thing. Seventh-day Adventists in Tennessee have taken God’s commandment literally, as it is written:
“Six days you shall labor and do all your work. 10 But the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God; in it you shall do no work—you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates.” (Exodus 20:9-10).

Work 6 days, but the 7th day is the Sabbath. Specifically, work from Sunday through Friday (max. until shortly before sunset). One could circumvent the ban on working on Sundays by doing other work, but chopping wood, loading, and harvesting were part of everyday life on a farm at the end of the 19th century. Things get really dicey when Saturday, directly or indirectly, becomes a forced workday (example: Greece). Then it’s time to take a concrete stand against it, because:

Bible verses from King James Version (1611)