4 - 1999
Shopping on Sunday
The Churches Demand Better Defense of Sunday
Joint Statement on "People need Sunday" published
The churches in Germany resist attempts to turn Sunday into a normal day. The Catholic Church and the German Evangelical Church together turned to the public in order to prevent more and more stores from opening on Sundays and more and more people from having to work.
The two large churches in Germany appealed expressly to politicians and people in business to ensure protection for Sunday. Its "creeping erosion" by more and more work on Sunday and the extension of store opening hours must be stopped, according to a joint statement of the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD) and the German Catholic Conference of Bishops. Opening hours should be "arranged so that the protection of Sunday in the German Basic Law continues to be guaranteed". EKD and the Bishops’ Conference point out that the constitution protects Sunday as the "day of rest from work and of uplift for the spirit" and Sunday work "is therefore possible only in cases of specifically defined and well-founded exceptions". The churches directed their expectation that this Sunday protection be "decidedly" secured at the federal, state, and local governments. "More than two-thirds of the population reject an extension of store opening hours on Sundays", the statement points out. The assertion that the population has already to a large extent written off Sunday is just as false as the assumption that a majority want to shop or work on Sunday. The churches emphasize that Sunday contributes essentially to the "quality of life together as persons". The preservation of this common day of rest was rooted already in the Ten Commandments and is for Christians of special meaning. Joint free time for family, friends, and neighbors is indispensable. Sunday ensures a recurring rhythm of work and rest as well as the opportunity for Christians to attend worship services. The Conference of Bishops and the EKD criticize numerous prunings of Sunday rest by federal, state, and local governments since 1994. The new legal regulation concerning working hours and the law on store opening hours as well as the broadening of the granting of exceptions to the prohibition of Sunday work all belong to this trend. Through all these, work on Sunday in the commercial and service areas has increased by 50% in only seven years. More and more communities have been declared to be resorts, merely in order to allow extended store opening hours there. Both churches attach great responsibility to business. Whoever wants to make work on Sunday possible should consider the consequences for workers and their families as well as for smaller businesses "which cannot keep up with such a development". The churches urge politics, business, (continued from page 1) and society to begin a "constructive discussion". It is a joint task to maintain the consensus about the protection of Sunday. This day is a chance for reflection for all people, regardless of the direction of their religion or world-view. The churches call upon Christians to get involved publicly on behalf of Sunday. Through their behavior they can make the meaning of Sunday understandable and give this day "new atttractiveness". In the summer months numerous cities, especially in eastern Germany, had shops and stores open on Sunday. In Berlin, Leipzig, and Halle as well as in resorts on the Baltic Sea people thronged on Sundays to the stores. The courts limited this practice in many ways or forbade it altogether. Beside the churches, the DAG (German union for salaried employees), OTV (union for government workers, transportation and traffic), DPG (postal workers’ union), HBV (union for commerce, banking and insurance) and IG Medien (union for the media industry) opposed the "scandal of work on Sunday". Report of the Evangelical News Service (epd) from September 16, 1999. Translated for publication in this issue.