Sunday, December 27, 2009
Friday, December 11, 2009
Germany's Sunday Law
Germany Reaffirms Sunday Law
December 1, 2009 From theTrumpet.comDec. 1, 2009, marks a historic day in Germany in more ways than one! By Ron Fraser
Coincident with the enacting of the Lisbon Treaty/EU constitution on December 1, Germany’s Constitutional Court has ruled that the nation’s capital must, like the rest of the country, abide by the law instituting Sunday as a day “of rest from work and of spiritual improvement” (Deutsche Welle, December 1).
Since the war, Berlin had enacted its own legislation allowing 10 shopping Sundays per year. That local ruling is now quashed. Effective from Jan. 1, 2010, Berlin must fall into line with the law institutionalizing Sunday as a day of rest and religious contemplation as contained in Germany’s Basic Law.
The actual law establishing Sunday as Germany’s weekly day of worship is enshrined in an appendix to the Basic Law under the heading, “Extracts From the German Constitution of Aug. 11, 1919 [Weimar Constitution].” There we find, under the subhead “Religion and Religious Societies,” Article 139, which reads: “Sunday and holidays recognized by the state shall remain protected by law as days of rest from work and of spiritual improvement.”
Though, under that same section, Article 137 (1) states “There shall be no state church,” the effect of the Sunday law is to institutionalize Roman Catholicism and its daughter churches as Germany’s state religion.
Those aware of the history of the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation will see this move by Germany’s highest court as one step further toward enforcing Rome’s religion, not only as the state religion on Germany, but on the whole European empire enacted by treaty on this infamous day, Dec. 1, 2009.
The prophecies of Revelation 13 leap into current-day perspective with this latest ruling of Germany’s Constitutional Court. For a clearer understanding of just where this is all leading, read our booklet Who or What Is the Prophetic Beast? •
Disclaimer: This article is presented as information only and does not necessarily reflect the view of Wheat Harvest Ministries.
Back to Top
December 1, 2009 From theTrumpet.comDec. 1, 2009, marks a historic day in Germany in more ways than one! By Ron Fraser
Coincident with the enacting of the Lisbon Treaty/EU constitution on December 1, Germany’s Constitutional Court has ruled that the nation’s capital must, like the rest of the country, abide by the law instituting Sunday as a day “of rest from work and of spiritual improvement” (Deutsche Welle, December 1).
Since the war, Berlin had enacted its own legislation allowing 10 shopping Sundays per year. That local ruling is now quashed. Effective from Jan. 1, 2010, Berlin must fall into line with the law institutionalizing Sunday as a day of rest and religious contemplation as contained in Germany’s Basic Law.
The actual law establishing Sunday as Germany’s weekly day of worship is enshrined in an appendix to the Basic Law under the heading, “Extracts From the German Constitution of Aug. 11, 1919 [Weimar Constitution].” There we find, under the subhead “Religion and Religious Societies,” Article 139, which reads: “Sunday and holidays recognized by the state shall remain protected by law as days of rest from work and of spiritual improvement.”
Though, under that same section, Article 137 (1) states “There shall be no state church,” the effect of the Sunday law is to institutionalize Roman Catholicism and its daughter churches as Germany’s state religion.
Those aware of the history of the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation will see this move by Germany’s highest court as one step further toward enforcing Rome’s religion, not only as the state religion on Germany, but on the whole European empire enacted by treaty on this infamous day, Dec. 1, 2009.
The prophecies of Revelation 13 leap into current-day perspective with this latest ruling of Germany’s Constitutional Court. For a clearer understanding of just where this is all leading, read our booklet Who or What Is the Prophetic Beast? •
Disclaimer: This article is presented as information only and does not necessarily reflect the view of Wheat Harvest Ministries.
Back to Top
SUNDAY LAW IN GERMANY?
The World from Berlin
'Even Atheists Need to Switch Off on Sundays'
REUTERS
Shoppers walk among illuminated Christmas decorations in a shopping mall at Berlin's Potsdamer Platz.
Germany's highest court has ruled that Sunday should be kept as a day of rest and has overturned a Berlin law easing restrictions on Sunday shopping. Most German newspapers on Wednesday greet the ruling, some for reasons of religion and tradition, others out of a concern for workers' rights.
Many visitors to Germany can find themselves standing outside a closed department store, perplexed to find that they cannot do a bit of shopping during their weekend trip. This is a result of Germany's long-held resistance to Sunday shopping even in the face of growing consumerism.
');
document.writeln('');
document.writeln('');
document.writeln('');
document.writeln('');
}
// -->
Yet many of Germany's 16 states have already made some exceptions, allowing stores to open a few Sundays a year. And in Berlin the city government had gone the furthest in chipping away at the ban on Sunday trading. In 2006 the German capital gave the green light for retailers to open on 10 Sundays a year, including the four Advent Sundays preceding Christmas.
However, Germany's Constitutional Court has now upheld a complaint made by the country's Catholic and Protestant churches, based on a clause in the German constitution that Sunday should be a day of rest and "spiritual elevation."
The court on Tuesday decided in favor of the churches, saying that Sunday opening should not take place four weeks in a row. The ruling will not affect shopping this December, but would come into force next year. However, the ruling did not overturn completely the principle of limited Sunday store opening.
The labor unions had joined the churches in their campaign to ring-fence Sunday as a day off for the nation. However, their focus was not on protecting the right to practise religion, but rather on protecting workers in the retail sector from having to work on Sundays, sometimes the only day they might get to spend with other members of their family. The services union Verdi greeted Tuesday's ruling with "relief and joy," saying this was a boon to shopworkers and their families.
German papers on Wednesday are broadly in favor of the ruling, though their reasons for supporting the court's decision are strikingly different.
The center-right Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung writes:
"The Constitutional Court had to overthrow the Berlin law. ... The judgement was not 'out of touch with reality,' as the Berlin Chamber of Commerce claims, but is actually very closely in touch with real life. The great diversity of working lives brings with it the fact that members of a single family are forced into different and sometimes incompatible working hours. If the state does not use some of its regulatory power to give a dependable rhythm to at least one free day -- and that is still Sunday -- then the family faces the threat of being pulled further apart."
"If they have no time with each other and for each other, then the formal notion of belonging together loses value. This danger faces many families in society. … The fact that in the face of growing commercialization and fewer jobs hardly any employee ever dares to ask for a free Saturday, led the labor unions to join the churches in their campaign -- with noticeable success."
The conservative Die Welt writes:
"The churches have argued correctly that employees in the retail sector are not given the possibility of organizing their Advent Sundays according to Christian principles: going to church, being involved in the community, singing and reading aloud. It is part of religious freedom to be able to do these things."
"The judges did not just endorse the division of time marked by Christianity, but also the necessity for this division. There is no ambiguity about this weekly rhythm. We people as social animals are duty bound and justified in dividing our time together. It is good to have free time together, it helps us to live as the social beings that we are."
The center-left Süddeutsche Zeitung writes:
"The judgement sounds antiquated, maddeningly unmodern and pretty patronizing. It tells citizens when they are allowed to shop, and when they are not. It makes shopping on a Sunday an exception. It is a ruling that goes against the economic liberal zeitgeist and is a ruling against the round-the-clock commercialization of life."
"Yet, the ruling is humane. It is an act in favor of the public spirit. … Those who regularly go shopping on Sundays today will have to work regularly on Sundays tomorrow."
"It may sound old fashioned but it is still correct: Sunday is Sunday because it is unlike other days. This is not about tradition or religion or a social heritage. Sunday is more than just a day off for individuals. It that were so, then it wouldn't matter if someone took a day off on Tuesday or Thursday. It is a day to synchronize society, that is what makes it so important. Without Sunday, every day would be a working day and a fixed point in the week would disappear. Of course there can be exceptions, there have always been particular professions who work on Sundays. But when the exception becomes the rule, then the commercialization of Sundays will not end at the department stores."
"The court has given everyone the right to a day off on Sundays. You don't have to take it. Everyone can do what they like with it. But it is good to have it."
The Financial Times Deutschland writes:
"The ruling by the Constitutional Court has revived the emotional debate about opening hours of shops on Sundays. That alone is annoying. But even more annoying is that with its strong emphasis on the religiously based day of rest on Sunday, it is interfering in individual and economic freedom."
"Without a doubt the freedom to practise religion is of great value. However, in an increasingly secular society with more and more individualized rhythms of living, it seems an anachronism for the country's highest court to use retail of all things to save the day of rest."
"In the public debate there is too little mention of the freedom of shop owners to keep customers through opening on Sundays, who would otherwise order online. And the freedom of towns to use Sunday opening hours to attract tourists. Or the freedom of customers to decide for themselves if they would rather spend Sundays amidst the crowds in the shopping malls or walking in the forest."
"Appreciating these rights does not mean throwing away the country to the false god of consumerism. It means allowing a debate … about what Sunday really means to us. That includes protecting the rights of salespeople, paying them extra for working on Sundays and not putting anyone under pressure to work on Sunday."
"If this is achieved, then it is high time that Sunday opening hours are no longer discussed in terms of belief but rationally."
The left-leaning Die Tageszeitung, which is based in Berlin, writes:
"Sunday as a day off is a great gift. The treadmill is closed for 24 hours. The court has given relaxation, rest and 'spiritual elevation' precedence over the thirst for profit and the right to a consumer fix. However, it made it clear in its ruling that Sunday was not just for those who wanted to practise their religion undisturbed. It is also to play cards, go for a walk or simply to laze around. After all even the strictest atheist needs the switching off that Sundays allow."
-- Siobhán Dowling
'Even Atheists Need to Switch Off on Sundays'
REUTERS
Shoppers walk among illuminated Christmas decorations in a shopping mall at Berlin's Potsdamer Platz.
Germany's highest court has ruled that Sunday should be kept as a day of rest and has overturned a Berlin law easing restrictions on Sunday shopping. Most German newspapers on Wednesday greet the ruling, some for reasons of religion and tradition, others out of a concern for workers' rights.
Many visitors to Germany can find themselves standing outside a closed department store, perplexed to find that they cannot do a bit of shopping during their weekend trip. This is a result of Germany's long-held resistance to Sunday shopping even in the face of growing consumerism.
');
document.writeln('');
document.writeln('');
document.writeln('');
document.writeln('');
}
// -->
Yet many of Germany's 16 states have already made some exceptions, allowing stores to open a few Sundays a year. And in Berlin the city government had gone the furthest in chipping away at the ban on Sunday trading. In 2006 the German capital gave the green light for retailers to open on 10 Sundays a year, including the four Advent Sundays preceding Christmas.
However, Germany's Constitutional Court has now upheld a complaint made by the country's Catholic and Protestant churches, based on a clause in the German constitution that Sunday should be a day of rest and "spiritual elevation."
The court on Tuesday decided in favor of the churches, saying that Sunday opening should not take place four weeks in a row. The ruling will not affect shopping this December, but would come into force next year. However, the ruling did not overturn completely the principle of limited Sunday store opening.
The labor unions had joined the churches in their campaign to ring-fence Sunday as a day off for the nation. However, their focus was not on protecting the right to practise religion, but rather on protecting workers in the retail sector from having to work on Sundays, sometimes the only day they might get to spend with other members of their family. The services union Verdi greeted Tuesday's ruling with "relief and joy," saying this was a boon to shopworkers and their families.
German papers on Wednesday are broadly in favor of the ruling, though their reasons for supporting the court's decision are strikingly different.
The center-right Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung writes:
"The Constitutional Court had to overthrow the Berlin law. ... The judgement was not 'out of touch with reality,' as the Berlin Chamber of Commerce claims, but is actually very closely in touch with real life. The great diversity of working lives brings with it the fact that members of a single family are forced into different and sometimes incompatible working hours. If the state does not use some of its regulatory power to give a dependable rhythm to at least one free day -- and that is still Sunday -- then the family faces the threat of being pulled further apart."
"If they have no time with each other and for each other, then the formal notion of belonging together loses value. This danger faces many families in society. … The fact that in the face of growing commercialization and fewer jobs hardly any employee ever dares to ask for a free Saturday, led the labor unions to join the churches in their campaign -- with noticeable success."
The conservative Die Welt writes:
"The churches have argued correctly that employees in the retail sector are not given the possibility of organizing their Advent Sundays according to Christian principles: going to church, being involved in the community, singing and reading aloud. It is part of religious freedom to be able to do these things."
"The judges did not just endorse the division of time marked by Christianity, but also the necessity for this division. There is no ambiguity about this weekly rhythm. We people as social animals are duty bound and justified in dividing our time together. It is good to have free time together, it helps us to live as the social beings that we are."
The center-left Süddeutsche Zeitung writes:
"The judgement sounds antiquated, maddeningly unmodern and pretty patronizing. It tells citizens when they are allowed to shop, and when they are not. It makes shopping on a Sunday an exception. It is a ruling that goes against the economic liberal zeitgeist and is a ruling against the round-the-clock commercialization of life."
"Yet, the ruling is humane. It is an act in favor of the public spirit. … Those who regularly go shopping on Sundays today will have to work regularly on Sundays tomorrow."
"It may sound old fashioned but it is still correct: Sunday is Sunday because it is unlike other days. This is not about tradition or religion or a social heritage. Sunday is more than just a day off for individuals. It that were so, then it wouldn't matter if someone took a day off on Tuesday or Thursday. It is a day to synchronize society, that is what makes it so important. Without Sunday, every day would be a working day and a fixed point in the week would disappear. Of course there can be exceptions, there have always been particular professions who work on Sundays. But when the exception becomes the rule, then the commercialization of Sundays will not end at the department stores."
"The court has given everyone the right to a day off on Sundays. You don't have to take it. Everyone can do what they like with it. But it is good to have it."
The Financial Times Deutschland writes:
"The ruling by the Constitutional Court has revived the emotional debate about opening hours of shops on Sundays. That alone is annoying. But even more annoying is that with its strong emphasis on the religiously based day of rest on Sunday, it is interfering in individual and economic freedom."
"Without a doubt the freedom to practise religion is of great value. However, in an increasingly secular society with more and more individualized rhythms of living, it seems an anachronism for the country's highest court to use retail of all things to save the day of rest."
"In the public debate there is too little mention of the freedom of shop owners to keep customers through opening on Sundays, who would otherwise order online. And the freedom of towns to use Sunday opening hours to attract tourists. Or the freedom of customers to decide for themselves if they would rather spend Sundays amidst the crowds in the shopping malls or walking in the forest."
"Appreciating these rights does not mean throwing away the country to the false god of consumerism. It means allowing a debate … about what Sunday really means to us. That includes protecting the rights of salespeople, paying them extra for working on Sundays and not putting anyone under pressure to work on Sunday."
"If this is achieved, then it is high time that Sunday opening hours are no longer discussed in terms of belief but rationally."
The left-leaning Die Tageszeitung, which is based in Berlin, writes:
"Sunday as a day off is a great gift. The treadmill is closed for 24 hours. The court has given relaxation, rest and 'spiritual elevation' precedence over the thirst for profit and the right to a consumer fix. However, it made it clear in its ruling that Sunday was not just for those who wanted to practise their religion undisturbed. It is also to play cards, go for a walk or simply to laze around. After all even the strictest atheist needs the switching off that Sundays allow."
-- Siobhán Dowling
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
A Message From: FAITH THAT WORKS Ministry
THE LORD IS COMING!!!!!!!!!!
The Lord is coming lift up your heads and rejoice. Oh we would think that those who hear the joyful news, who claim to love Jesus, would be filled with joy unutterable and full of glory, this is the good, the joyful news which should electrify every soul, which should be repeated in our homes and told to those whom we meet on the street. What more joyful news can be communicated!!!.
The voice of the true watchman needs now to be heard all along the line. "The morning cometh and also the night." The trumpet must give a certain sound, for we are in the great day of the Lord's preparation.
NO TIME TO WASTE!!!!!!!
Sound an alarm through the land. Tell the people that the day of the Lord is near, and hasteth greatly. Let none be left unwarned. We might have been in the place of the poor souls who are in error. According to the truth that we have received above others, we are debtors to impart the same to them.
We have no time to lose. The powers of darkness are working with intense energy, and with stealthy tread satan is advancing to take those who are now asleep , as a wolf taking his prey. We have warnings now which we may give, a work now which we may do, but soon it will be more difficult that we can imagine. God help us that we may keep in the channel of light, to work with our eyes fasten upon our leader, and patiently, perseveringly press on till the victory is gained.
The coming on the LOrd is nearer than when we first believed. The great controversy is nearing its end. Every report of calamity be sea or by land is a testimony to the fact that the end of all things is at hand. Wars and rumors of wars declare it. Is there a Christian whose pulse does not beat with quickened action as he anticipates the great events opening before us? The Lord is coming we hear the foosteps of an approaching God, as he comes to punish the world for its iniquity. We are to prepare the way for him by acting our part in getting a people ready for that great day. No entreaties are so tender, no lessons so plain, no commands so powerful and so protecting, no promises so full, as those which point the sinner to the fountain that has been opened to wash away the guilt of the human soul. Let every heart as well as every hand be engaged to do the work that must be done. The word is given from the throne of God, "EVERY MAN TO HIS WORK, EACH TO DO HIS BEST"
From the desk of Magdalene W. Stanislas
Gospel Medical Missionary Evangelist
Faith That Works
The Lord is coming lift up your heads and rejoice. Oh we would think that those who hear the joyful news, who claim to love Jesus, would be filled with joy unutterable and full of glory, this is the good, the joyful news which should electrify every soul, which should be repeated in our homes and told to those whom we meet on the street. What more joyful news can be communicated!!!.
The voice of the true watchman needs now to be heard all along the line. "The morning cometh and also the night." The trumpet must give a certain sound, for we are in the great day of the Lord's preparation.
NO TIME TO WASTE!!!!!!!
Sound an alarm through the land. Tell the people that the day of the Lord is near, and hasteth greatly. Let none be left unwarned. We might have been in the place of the poor souls who are in error. According to the truth that we have received above others, we are debtors to impart the same to them.
We have no time to lose. The powers of darkness are working with intense energy, and with stealthy tread satan is advancing to take those who are now asleep , as a wolf taking his prey. We have warnings now which we may give, a work now which we may do, but soon it will be more difficult that we can imagine. God help us that we may keep in the channel of light, to work with our eyes fasten upon our leader, and patiently, perseveringly press on till the victory is gained.
The coming on the LOrd is nearer than when we first believed. The great controversy is nearing its end. Every report of calamity be sea or by land is a testimony to the fact that the end of all things is at hand. Wars and rumors of wars declare it. Is there a Christian whose pulse does not beat with quickened action as he anticipates the great events opening before us? The Lord is coming we hear the foosteps of an approaching God, as he comes to punish the world for its iniquity. We are to prepare the way for him by acting our part in getting a people ready for that great day. No entreaties are so tender, no lessons so plain, no commands so powerful and so protecting, no promises so full, as those which point the sinner to the fountain that has been opened to wash away the guilt of the human soul. Let every heart as well as every hand be engaged to do the work that must be done. The word is given from the throne of God, "EVERY MAN TO HIS WORK, EACH TO DO HIS BEST"
From the desk of Magdalene W. Stanislas
Gospel Medical Missionary Evangelist
Faith That Works
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)