The Confessing Seventh-day Adventist

The Commission of the Bishops' Conferences of the European Community (COMECE) has given its support to a proposal introduced into the European Parliament "on the protection of a work-free Sunday as an essential pillar of the European Social Model and as part of the European cultural heritage." The measure would call upon all member-states of the European Union to protect the weekly day of rest. "The economic and financial crises have made us more aware of the fact that not all aspects of life can be subject to market forces," COMECE noted in its statement of support - in which the Catholic bishops were joined by the Protestant Church in Germany (EKD) and the Church of England.

Here's the full story:

Protection of the work-free Sunday:
MEPs launch Written Declaration

The Secretariat of COMECE, the Protestant Church in Germany (EKD) and the Church of England welcome the initiative of several Members of the European Parliament, to ask the House to decide on a Written Declaration “on the protection of a work-free Sunday as an essential pillar of the European Social Model and as part of the European cultural heritage”. Such a declaration would constitute an important commitment to a “Social Europe”. It is now important to find the majority necessary for this cross-party resolution, which has been launched by five parliamentarians – from the political groups of EPP, PSE, ALDE and UEN – on 2 February 2009.

The economic and financial crises have made us more aware of the fact that not all aspects of life can be subject to market forces. Unrestrained consumption is neither a model for a sustainable economy, nor a healthy concept for human development. Men and women, who work on Sundays, are put at a disadvantage in their social relationships: Their family life, personal development and even health are verifiably affected.

A part of the European cultural heritage of longstanding tradition and high value, the work-free Sunday is a decisive factor in balancing work and family life. It is of fundamental importance for family relations, but also for social and cultural life to safeguard one of the few remaining times which can be shared by children and their parents. According to EU law, Sunday is the weekly rest day for children and adolescents (1). That is why respect for Sunday rest has the potential to be a pillar of the European social model.

In recent years, the protection of Sunday has been eroded in many Member States, with the purpose of increasing production and consumption. Workers have experienced fragmentation of their private lives, while small and medium-sized enterprises, which cannot afford uninterrupted opening hours have lost ground in the market place. Accordingly this declaration now introduced into parliament calls on the Member States and on the EU institutions to “protect Sunday, as a weekly rest day, in forthcoming national and EU working-time legislation in order to enhance the protection of workers' health and the reconciliation of work and family life”.

In order to be adopted, it is now necessary for the Written Declaration to be signed by a majority (394) of MEPs before 7 May 2009.

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(1)- See article 10 of Council Directive 94/33/EC of 22 June 1994, concerning the protection of young people at work, OJ L216, p. 12-20.

Article 116 of the Rules of Procedure of the European Parliament stipulates that a Written Declaration is a text of a maximum 200 words presented by a maximum of 5 MEPs and submitted to all MEPs for a period of 3 months. If the Declaration collects a majority of signatures, it becomes on official act of the European Parliament and is then transmitted to the addressees that are cited.

Text of the Written Declaration is in the annex and can also be found under:
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/activitie ... Ongoing.do

I think it's easy to see why the exaltation of a papal institution, such as the protection of a work-free Sunday, is regarded by some as a workable method to preserve Western culture in Europe and in the United States.

As of May 7, 2009 this Written Declaration has LAPSED. Of the 785 members only 261 signed the Declaration. Declarations lapse after three months in the register if they have not been signed by at least half the MEPs. But I am sure they will try again.

http://www.europarl.europa.eu/activitie ... sSearch.do

search for: Protection of the work-free Sunday

Yes.

Statements in English and German from conference participants:

http://csc.ceceurope.org/fileadmin/file ... _EN_DE.pdf

see also:

http://www.ceceurope.org/news-and-media ... c38706be3d

PS: in this very context:

Happy holy Sabbat to all of you.

I merged these two threads because they cover the same topic.

Please be aware of what is happening in Europe in regard to sunday legislation, right now:

http://www.europeansundayalliance.eu/

Here you find the founding statement of The European Sunday Alliance in English:

http://www.europeansundayalliance.eu/site/foundingstatement/textofthefoundingstatemen/article/66.html

They continue pushing forward. They won´t give up on it until they get it through.

Sleep not, sentinels.

"Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves."
(2 Cor. 13:5)

Liebe anni,

Thanks for the update. I read through all the links and thought that the arguments were very compelling — forgetting, of course, that there are easily marginalized people in Europe that keep Friday or Saturday holy.

Do you have any sense that the proposed Sunday legislation might become popular with a significant fraction of Europeans anytime soon? I'll have to keep checking that News and Events page to see what's new.

I listened to some of that site's top 10 songs about Sunday, like Sunday Bloody Sunday by U2. Did you ever hear President George Bush sing that song? I never thought George Bush was so musical! His version of Sunday Bloody Sunday is even better than U2's. I'll have to add it here to outdo your European page.

Lieber Eugene,

I read through all the links and thought that the arguments were very compelling — forgetting, of course, that there are easily marginalized people in Europe that keep Friday or Saturday holy.

When they launched the "European Conference on a work-free sunday" in Brussels in march 2010, there was also the Secretary General of the International Association for the defense of Religious Liberty, Karel Nowak, present. Nowak raised the question how minorities that keep a different day as day of rest would be protected if such sunday legislation as promoted was actually passed. He got no answer to his inquiry. I doubt the European Sunday Alliance now will be more responsive to this legitimate concern.

Apart from being alarming, this is amazing, considering that the so-called "minorities" are not even such a minority at all. The video on "muslim demographics" you posted is touching a very hot topic here in Europe. A statistically significant part of Europe´s population is muslim and keeps friday as day of rest. I believe your suspicion that

the exaltation of a papal institution, such as the protection of a work-free Sunday, is regarded by some as a workable method to preserve Western culture in Europe and in the United States.

is right spot on. See the ongoing debate that Thilo Sarrazin´s book stirred over here in Germany last year.

Do you have any sense that the proposed Sunday legislation might become popular with a significant fraction of Europeans anytime soon? I'll have to keep checking that News and Events page to see what's new.

It won´t become significantly popular unless there happen some acute trigger-events of negative impact, leading to such social crisis that a demand for such legislation may be promoted as truly necessary; and as far as I know, that´s exactly what Ellen White foretold. Sunday is allready traditionally and legally the day of rest in Europe and the majority of the working people has the day off. Few see any need of tightening Sunday legislation for this reason. In regard to society´s state of affairs, things have not reached a critical climax yet.

On the other hand, things are definitely in decline. The current crisis of Greece, Portugal and Ireland are shaking Europe and reveal the severe currency crisis the European Union is facing. Economically, we are in an extremely unstable moment, but it´s not only this. The media is full now with articles that recognize that the European Union is facing, more than an economic and currency crisis, an identity crisis which causes social disintegration and is virtually threatening the whole european project. This is not taken lightely, obviously.

According to what I interprete from Scripture and the Spirit of Prophecy, in any way, the velocity with which sunday law will become popular depends to a significant degree on the readiness of God´s people. That´s why I consider the European Sunday Alliance as an important wake-up call for the sleeping virgins to finally put God first in everything and become men and women of His. I believe we should neighter be passive fatalists, saying that Sunday Law is at the door no matter what, now let´s take off into the next cave; nor presumptious laodiceans, saying: there is no need to hurry and check if we´re prepared.

Christ´s return certainly is close.

It´s not only Europe who is in the starting blocks:

Israel´s prime minister Netanyahu considers shortening Israel´s work week by making sunday another day off.

Click here.

In the interest of helping Muslims to not feel intimidated by all this talk of a global Sunday law, I propose that we permit the most holy book of Islam to be accurately represented in this thread and that we all reverently consider the merits of the Islamic religion in this song by Patrick Henry.