Regarding Patrick McDermott's Sept. 9 column "Outdated rules restrict society," his comments about blue laws are spot-on. I live in Georgia, one of the only states in which one still cannot buy retail beer, wine, or liquor on Sundays (even though wine and beer are available in grocery stores Monday-Saturday). The governor, a deep-rooted Southern Baptist and a generally good guy, has fought off multiple attempts to strike down this blue law with silly rationale such as making the roads safer one day a week. But it is obvious to all that his religion, and the religion of many of his supportive constituents, is his driving force.

As a practicing Christian, I find this amusing. The words of Jesus in the Gospels make it clear that God created the Sabbath for man -- that the Sabbath is God's way of telling us that he built us with the ability to be able to work six days on, one day off, on a continuous basis. Jesus spoke out against the Pharisees' enforcement of what we would call blue laws. If we were to enforce a labor law that required at least one day off for every six days on, but left open the choice of day, few would object, even though doing so would come closer to meeting what Jesus suggested than current Sunday blue laws. If I owned a car dealership or beer distributor, I'd be open on Sundays (after I got done with church) in order to serve those for whom Sunday was their day off. Drinking beer or browsing new cars is recreation for everyone but the dealer. I'd take my days off on Mondays.

If you feel compelled to take off a specific day each week for religious reasons, at least get the day right. The Sabbath starts at sunset on Friday and ends at sunset on Saturday; Sunday is the day after the Sabbath. Look it up in the New Testament.

Doug Clark

Class of 1989