Article Title

A True-Blue American Paradox: The Constitutional Tension between Religious Liberty and Sunday Legislation in the United States

Authors

Marcus Alden Swearingen BatesFollow

Abstract

A fundamental legal tension exists between religious liberty and Sunday legislation in the United States. This tension is based upon the fact that the United States Supreme Court has ruled consistently that Sunday rest has developed into a secular principle, and no longer possesses the religious significance that it once had. As such, the Court has claimed that the individual states are within their constitutional authority to regulate the use of Sunday as a common day of rest for the welfare of their citizens. To contest this claim, this paper will present evidence to suggest that Sunday rest is still inherently religious, and that its legal enforcement as a common day of rest circumvents the First and Fourteenth Amendments. This evidence will also show that Sunday legislation poses a significant threat to religious liberty, and thus presents one of the great legal paradoxes of American constitutional history.

Recommended Citation

Swearingen Bates, Marcus Alden (2018) "A True-Blue American Paradox: The Constitutional Tension between Religious Liberty and Sunday Legislation in the United States," Journal of Interdisciplinary Graduate Research: Vol. 4, Article 1.
Available at: https://knowledge.e.southern.edu/jigr/vol4/iss1/1