Many Christians, including members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, take the biblical proscription “thou shalt not do any work” on the Sabbath not as a recommendation but as a commandment.
Now, a Utah legislator wants to make that edict a tad easier to heed by adding his own “thou shalt not” into state law, forbidding corporations — from Burger King to Jiffy Lube to Pizza Hut — from requiring that franchise owners open on Sunday.
“This bill is about respecting the religious beliefs and practices of those who choose to own and operate a franchise so they can choose to preserve a day of rest or worship,” Rep. Ken Ivory said in a news release. “This bill provides them with the freedom to observe the same ‘Sundays excepted’ right and expectation enshrined in the U.S. Constitution.”
(Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune) Rep. Ken Ivory, R-West Jordan, recently announced a bill that would prevent franchisors from demanding store owners operate on Sundays unless business owners have already contracted to do so.
The news release only mentions a Sunday exemption. It doesn’t state whether the proposed measure would offer similar religious freedom protections for Friday, the Sabbath for Muslims, or Saturday, the principal worship day for Seventh-day Adventists and followers of Judaism.
The release also notes the legislation would not cover a franchise agreement already in place that stipulates a store operate on Sunday.
Ivory, who is a Latter-day Saint, did not respond to a request for comment. However, it appears the West Jordan Republican is extrapolating from Section 7 of the U.S. Constitution, which states that any bill not returned by the president “within 10 days (Sundays excepted) after it shall have been presented to him, the same shall be a law.”
This is the only place where the “Sundays excepted” phrase appears in the nation’s founding document.
