Christian Nationalists: Honor the Sabbath Day
And force businesses to pay workers time-and-a-half for not keeping it holy (Scroll to the end to listen)
This week, we have been breaking down Project 2025’s Christian Nationalist policies for the Department of Labor. Its author, Jonathan Berry, is a far-right Catholic who clerked for Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito and worked to get Neil Gorsuch confirmed, in addition to holding multiple roles in 45’s transition team and former administration.
Is anyone surprised to see the word SABBATH used multiple times in relation to Project 2025’s proposed Fascist Republican labor policies?
Project 2025, page 589
Sabbath Rest. God ordained the Sabbath as a day of rest, and until very recently the Judeo-Christian tradition sought to honor that mandate by moral and legal regulation of work on that day. Moreover, a shared day off makes it possible for families and communities to enjoy time off together, rather than as atomized individuals, and provides a healthier cadence of life for everyone. Unfortunately, that communal day of rest has eroded under the pressures of consumerism and secularism, especially for low-income workers.
God ordained the Sabbath as a day of rest.
For those who didn’t grow up in Christian Nationalism, allow me to explain the concept of the Sabbath. In the literal interpretation of the Genesis Creation story, God created everything in six 24-hour days and rested on the 7th day.
Because God rested, many faith traditions teach that humans should follow his example. Judaism observes this day of rest on Saturday, the 7th day of a week beginning on Sunday.
But Catholics and their Protestant progeny could not mimic Judaism. My Christian Nationalist upbringing defined Sunday as the Sabbath, or day of rest. (At my Good Christian Nationalist Girl pinnacle, I was in Sunday School by 9:30am, followed by an almost 2-hour church service. I played the piano for the choir, congregational singing, offertory solos, and various soloists and groups, which required at least 2 hours of early afternoon Sunday practice, followed by a 2-hour Sunday evening service that ended around 8pm. All of this uncompensated activity built up treasure in heaven. Quite a day of rest.)
Moral and legal regulation of work (on the Sabbath.)
Longer-term readers may recall that any time Christian Nationalists use the word moral, they mean Biblical. Berry lays out his Biblical justification for the legal regulation of work by reminding readers that God rested on the Sabbath.
Pressures of consumerism and secularism.
Berry and his billionaire overlords don’t care about consumerism, except as it draws people away from church attendance. If people don’t have other options, maybe they’ll attend mass or go to church. This is more about secularism, which is American society’s documented drift from Christianity in recent decades.
I’ve referenced this Pew Research Study on religion in several newsletters, but it’s worth citing again here. In 1972, 90% of Americans identified as Christian; by 2021, that number had fallen to 63%, with 29% citing no religious affiliation. This is what Fascist Republicans mean by secularism: an alarming (to them) rejection of Christianity without corresponding self-reflection about how they have contributed to Christianity’s decline.
Also, I can’t let the phrase communal day of rest go without comment. Communal day of rest = ATTEND CHURCH OR MASS. Whenever a Christian Nationalist utters this phrase, they are talking about church attendance.
How do the Fascist Republican framers of Project 2025 propose to solve this conundrum of people working on the Sabbath?
Project 2025, page 589
Congress should encourage communal rest by amending the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) to require that workers be paid time and a half for hours worked on the Sabbath. That day would default to Sunday, except for employers with a sincere religious observance of a Sabbath at a different time (e.g., Friday sundown to Saturday sundown); the obligation would transfer to that period instead. Houses of worship (to the limited extent they may have FLSA-covered employees) and employers legally required to operate around the clock (such as hospitals and first responders) would be exempt, as would workers otherwise exempt from overtime.
In other words, Congress should encourage Americans to attend church or mass by amending the FLSA to require that workers be paid time and a half for hours worked on the Sabbath.
But wouldn’t more workers want to work on Sunday, given that all work would be compensated at time and a half? Berry threads this needle by expecting the market to take care of that problem.
Project 2025, page 589
While some conservatives believe that the government should encourage certain religious observance by making it more expensive for employers and consumers to not partake in those observances, other conservatives believe that the government’s role is to protect the free exercise of religion by eliminating barriers as opposed to erecting them. Whereas imposing overtime rules on the Sabbath would lead to higher costs and limited access to goods and services and reduce work available on the Sabbath (while also incentivizing some people—through higher wages—to desire to work on the Sabbath), the proper role of government in helping to enable individuals to practice their religion is to reduce barriers to work options and to fruitful employer and employee relations. The result: ample job options that do not require work on the Sabbath so that individuals in roles that sometimes do require Sabbath work are empowered to negotiate directly with their employer to achieve their desired schedule.
Only many American workers would not be able to negotiate directly. A restaurant cannot afford to fully staff a Sunday shift if everyone is paid time and a half. Neither can shops and markets. The majority of those business would opt to close on Sunday. I guess Christian Nationalists believe if they bore Americans with fewer options for enjoyable Sunday diversions, some would choose to darken the door of a church.
How would seasonal businesses built around weekend short tourist trips and similar survive? Americans get so little paid vacation time. Many American cities’ tourist markets rely on attracting tourist dollars on long weekends, where by necessity, Sunday is like any other day. If nothing is open for one of two full getaway days, maybe more people will opt to stay home and go to church.
I don’t know what they propose to do with Sunday professional sports matches, where hundreds of thousands of people work in stadiums around the country to make those outings possible. I can’t imagine the billionaire owners of those teams agreeing to pay concessions workers, janitors, and ticket takers time and a half OR moving these highly lucrative Sabbath events to another day simply to satisfy religious extremists. Maybe they will get their teams classified as “churches” to get around this conundrum.
Except Berry allows his billionaire overlords an out for all this Sabbath-required overtime pay. We will cover this hypocrisy, I mean, contradiction tomorrow. In the meantime, recall that Project 2025 is chock full of deregulatory schemes that will increase risks to the health, safety and welfare of workers and the public. But Fascist Republicans will make sure American workers have government-regulated time to pray on Sunday.
Thank you, as always, for supporting this work. I appreciate you.
I recall state blue laws when I was young that restricted activities and purchases on Sunday. These were somehow tied to what it was proper/not proper to do on the sabbath. I grew up knowing there were no liquor sales on Sundays or holidays. Some states/communities restricted gambling, sports, work or traveling. I first ran up against the blue laws in Ohio when I attempted to purchase pantyhose at the drugstore on a Sunday and was informed that it was illegal to do so (circa 1965).
Sunday was the busiest day of the week in my Baptist upbringing. Get dressed up, Sunday school, worship service, prepare biggest meal of the week, entertain other church people, huge cleanup of meal, evening church and any other special church activities. I never understood why it was called a day of rest. It seemed to me we had lost the plot even as a kid.
Just like the whole set up- it wasn’t about getting in touch with our souls or pondering who/what God is or the joy of being in service to the poor and widows and strangers in our community. It was about being seen and doing the right church things. No wonder churches struggle with attendance and therefore resort to Las Vegas style entertainment events. It’s all so silly but deadly serious since people with real power want to run our lives according to their interpretation of a religious text.
Thanks for your hard work Andra. It’s hard to remember back to our trauma filled religious experiences but people are still living in it and causing the rest of us major problems so we have to examine it.