Supreme Court 9-0 Decision on behalf of USPS worker.
A Postal Service worker sued the Postal Service for his being forced to work on Sundays or lose his job. All none supreme court justices sided on his behalf. The law suite was based upon Title 7 of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. It states: Employers are to accommodate their employee''s religious practices. The text defines "religion" as one of the 5 major religions, Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, and Buddhism
Apart from the law, but instead from a biblical perspective, do you and I, who hold to a Christian faith, have the right over those not of the five major religions to avoid the Sunday work day? I know the law states we do but what does God's word state as that is what we are accountable to?
I know many fellow believers who have had to work on Sunday and have not insisted they have Sunday off according to Title 7. So is it sin that they work? Well, that depends on your interpretation of the commandment to follow the Sabbath.
Sabbath literally means "rest." For the Jew the sabbath was the forth commandment of first ten as carved on stone tablets and mediated by Moses (Ex 20:8). Six days they would work but on the seventh day they rested as it was a holy day of rest onto the Lord God. On this seventh day no work was to be performed. This holy day started at 6PM Friday and lasts to 6PM Saturday and is still followed by devout Jews. The mosaic commands were based on a lunar calendar where the day starts at sundown.
For the majority of Christian teaching this commandment continues to be enforced but with it moving to Sunday based upon the resurrection of Christ. The only issue is that there is nothing in the teaching of church Apostles that Sunday was to be the sabbath or that the sabbath was to be held to as it was for the Jews. For the Christian (Jew & Gentile) the actions of the law were no more (Eph 2:15). Yes, Jesus followed the sabbath requirement but he came as a Jew to preach to the Jews.
However, this did become a hot topic when the pharisees accused the disciples of Christ of working on the sabbath (Matt 121-8). Jesus made this revealing statement, "_Yet I say to you that in this place there is One greater than the temple. But if you had known what this means, I desire mercy and not sacrifice,' you would not have condemned the guiltless. For the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath._" One greater is Jesus and he is the Lord (GK. kyrios, supreme authority) of the Sabbath and since his disciples were with Him they had freedom to crush the grain in their hand and eat.
So understand, one day was to be holy to the Lord God. So those joined with the Son of God have joined their lives with him who is holy. Not for a day but for their life so fulfilling the law nit to make one day holy but their own life as holy to Him (1Pet 1:16). When the gentile world began accepting Christ as their savior other major requirements such as male circumcision was in debate and found to be of the law but not of the new faith and life with Christ. Similarly would be the character of giving tithes (see my teaching on Giving).
Therefore, if the Sunday Sabbath is more a tradition of men than a requirement found in New Testament teaching or better has been made void being fulfilled by our relationship with the Lord of the Sabbath, is then it a legit right of Christians to have Sunday off? I do not believe so. Seem more a personal conviction.
Now, as taking it from a purely secular approach of employer & employee. Does not an employer have the right of ownership to dictate working hours and days for employees in accordance of general labor laws? Yes, and an employee has the right to find a different company to work for according to his/her own preferences, whether having Sundays off or working from home.
I am for employer rights and rights of the self employed (having been one for some time). In the case of the baker refusing to bake and decorate a cake for a gay wedding. He was sued by the gay couple. This was ludicrous and happily a supreme court ruling was on behalf of the baker. For a self-employed person to kneel to the demands of a customer when that demand is against the businessman's religious or ethical convictions is an infraction against that businessman's constitutional rights as well as religious rights. Furthermore, the customer had other reasonable options to get their cake made making their demand even more unreasonable. We as customers chose businesses all the time because of a multitude of personal reason other than religious. So give the guy a one star rating on Yelp and move on.
In conclusion, I hold to our Constitution and the Word of God. In them we have liberty. May we as US Citizens and on this 4th of July give thanks for the freedoms that both historical and sacred documents insure.
"_We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness_." US Constitution
However, I don't truly find reason in this Court decision to celebrate but rather it saddens me when Christians see themselves as worthy of more rights than any other citizen, especially when they have not been asked to act immorally or unethically, according to scripture. We deserve no special treatment than others in the workplace and all benefits we may receive by an employer is by the grace and mercy of God. So be thankful you have a job and can care for your family. be a faithful employee and an example of Christ in your position.
Blessings
pBob