By Don Ardell – February 13, 2011
In the first part of the last century and even more so
before that era, laws limiting activities on the Sabbath were the norm. The
religious forces, far more powerful than today, did not cotton to frivolity on
Sundays, or anything else that kept the population from showing up for church
services.
n the first part of the last century and even more so before
that era, laws limiting activities on the Sabbath were the norm. The religious
forces, far more powerful than today, did not cotton to frivolity on Sundays,
or anything else that kept the population from showing up for church services.
In a book entitled, "Fifty Years of Freethought"
(Vol. II, 1929), George Mac Donald described how preachers tried to shut down
the Super Bowl of the time, namely, the Chicago World's Fair, from opening on
Sunday, the sabbath.
“The Chicago World's Fair having been decreed, the kind of
church people who adopt meddling as a means of grace saw that now was their day
of salvation. Hitherto, with their fussy restrictions on Sunday work and
amusements, they had been obliged to function merely as local nuisances. Now
they would close the World's Fair on Sunday and make themselves felt as pests
by all nations. . .The meddlers resolved to memorialize Congress to pay no
money, make no appropriations in behalf of the Fair, save on the promise that
the key should be turned on the exhibits every Saturday night, with no relief
until Monday morning. They circulated petitions to this effect, and did such a
business in collecting names that in some places they claimed more signatures
than there were people.”
This Sunday before, during and after the Super Bowl, the
people will have a day to enjoy, Those who wish to attend churches are free to
do so and many will, and many more will spend some part of the day in prayer.
Maybe a few fundamentalists will sacrifice a goat or something, but they will
not attempt to discourage others to have a good time or do what they like on
this Sabbath day, as once was the case in America and around the Christian
world.
Robert Green Ingersoll, the famous lawyer, politician, and
orator, once told a reporter in Cleveland that the ministers wanted every place
closed on the Sabbath except the churches. He said this was a terrible
imposition. He favored Sunday baseball, adding that it always gave him pleasure
to see the Sabbath broken. He continued: "On that day, I love to hear the
violins and see the boys and girls dancing. I love to hear the music in the
parks, love to see the bathers in the surf, love to see people on their wheels,
love to see little children gathering flowers, love to see people sailing, love
to see them playing golf or ball. All this is so much better and sweeter than
going to church, hearing horrible hymns in horrible tunes, horrible sermons
about the harps of heaven and the tortures of hell. Away with the sacred
Sabbath, say I. Man was not made for the sabbath." (Source: Frank Smith,
"Robert Green Ingersoll: A Life," Prometheus, 1990, p. 378.)
Ingersoll told a story to illustrate what would happen if
the ministers got their way: "The people will go to church as the man went
staggering home at two o'clock in the morning. His poor wife said, 'John, how
could you come home at such a time?' And John replied: 'Mary, the fact is every
other place is shut up.'"
So enjoy the Super Bowl, if that's your pleasure and/or all
the other wonderful things you can choose to do in a secular society. In this
country, everyone, devout and secular, is free to do as he/she likes on the
sabbath and every other day. Let's be grateful that people like Mac Donald,
Ingersoll and so many other freethinkers came before us. As the Great Agnostic
observed, "Man was not made for the sabbath."