Christians Bullied Shop Owner to Stay Closed on Sundays

[NeoGreen]

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/2017/11/22/christians-bullied-shop-owner-to-stay-closed-on-sundays-but-the-plan-backfired/

Christians Bullied Shop Owner to Stay Closed on Sundays, But the Plan Backfired

Earlier this month, Leona Rawlinson, the owner of a shop called Tweed Tastic on the Isle of Lewis (off the western coast of Scotland), received a strange package in the mail. It was a Bible along with a letter from Dan MacPhail, secretary of the Day One/Lord’s Day Observance Society.

He had a problem with the fact that Rawlinson, unlike other business owners on the island, kept her shop open on a Sunday (something she began doing this past summer due to increased demand). Good Christians didn’t work on the Sabbath, dammit, and maybe a Bible would steer Rawlinson in the right direction.

He wrote: “The purpose of our letter is certainly not to intimidate you into closing on Sunday… nor are we aware of any organised campaign in relation to this matter.

“However, it is a sincere and humble request that you consider closing the shop on the Lord’s Day.”

The letter adds: “We are concerned for the spiritual and eternal as well as temporal consequences of such actions of Sunday opening and do not believe that lasting blessing or profit will follow.

“Indeed, we are aware of many Christians expressing disappointment that such an interesting shop as Tweed Tastic is trading on Sundays and that solely because of this they are refusing to give of their patronage.”

We’re not trying to intimidate you, but seriously, close your damn shop.
We don’t know of any organized boycotts, but a ton of Christians are totally boycotting your store.

(snip)

There is some good news to all this: The story has taken on a life of its own over the past two weeks even since it was first shared on the Facebook page for the Western Isles Secular Society. You can’t buy the sort of publicity Rawlinson has received for doing nothing more than being available for her customers.

Lots of lovely people have called into the shop to offer support, people of faith and no faith alike. The resounding message, over and over again, has been that this is not about religion, it is about controlling behaviour. By a tiny sanctimonious minority that professes to speak for the island but in reality only speaks for its narrow fundamentalist interpretation of Christianity. That is a topic in itself, and I may return to it later.

Then the cards started arriving. Messages of support from as far away as Leeds. And on Facebook, the messages of support come from all over the UK, Europe, South Africa and Canada.

Neither of us can walk along the street or round the supermarket without being stopped and offered support and encouragement. My ten minute trip to Tesco today took me nearly an hour. But I wouldn’t have it any other way. So many people saying, “About time…”

It looks like the Christian bullies who wanted to intimidate Rawlinson have given her more business than ever before — and more reason to stay open on Sundays indefinitely. Maybe other stores will follow suit as more people speak out against the irrational way Christians have shut down so much of the island on Sunday because of their personal religious quirks.

I guess Bibles really do work wonders.

[3auld6phart]

1. Hmmm

Strict Presbyterian Sunday observation still seems rampant in parts of the Highlands and Western Isles.Who would of thunk in this day and age.Nothing would get done,no cooking, no child play allowed,no feeding livestock,no milking of the cows. Just sitting in the house and reading that " Book ".How utterly boring and stifling. All the best to Leona Rawlinson and a very Merry Christmas and Happy Hogmanay and a successful future.And SEASONS GREETINGS to all fellow DUers.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

6. "Just sitting in the house and reading that 'Book'"?

Don't they have cable or satellite on Lewis?

I guess I'll cross that off my list of places to retire.

[SCVDem]

12. No working on the Sabbath?

Who's cooking dinner?

That's right! Women at home don't count.

If you don't like something, just don't do it. You have no right to force others to follow your beliefs.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

13. My stove has a "sabbath" mode

In that mode, the burners and oven will work, but none of the timers. I'm not sure about the oven temp control, but imagine that's disabled as well. I haven't had any reason to use that mode, being non-observant of the sabbath restrictions.

[druidity33]

15. Really? No Joke? nt.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

16. Not joking. Never used it, but came across it while reading the manual.

I didn't know how the "clean" operation worked, so in desperation, I looked at the manual.

Sabbath mode. An unnecessary feature for me, but interesting.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

21. Yep.

Go to any appliance store. Stoves and refrigerators have "Shabbat mode"

We only noticed it because we now have Jewish neighbors in our building who are observant

I find it all interesting and yet silly.

On one hand, it's a great idea to spend quality time with your family without the use of electronic devices. On the other hand the reasoning behind is just plain silly.

It's great they can't use electronic devices. But really fucking inconvenient when they rent their parking spot out on Cubs days and the renter parks over the line (blocking the other neighbor's spot) or in the wrong spot and we can't get a hold of them. Or they leave their dog home howling while they stroll the neighborhood with no phones.

When they moved in they purchased a big Weber gas grill. Typically neighbors on the same floor share grills due to limited space -- silly to have two grills right next to each other. Nope, sky fairy says you can't cook cheeseburgers because no meat and cheese together.


On the other hand, I was raised Catholic. So it's not like there isn't enough of this silliness to go around.

[Historic NY]

2. Damn Gideons stick to seedy hotel rooms.

[LittleGirl]

3. When I lived

in Switzerland, everything was closed on Sundays except for gas stations along the highways and restaurants. Non-essentials were closed. Period.
A couple of times a year, the country or canton would vote for Sunday business hours (like the week before Christmas) and another in the spring or Summer or both.

[Ferrets are Cool]

4. Good for her for standing up to bullies. Bullies, no matter how it's done, are

pure chit.

[JNelson6563]

5. This is a miracle, brothers & sisters.

The Lord has spoken. Can I get an amen?

[demigoddess]

7. I remember in the 70s in Texas you could go into a grocery store but only shop

in some areas. Other areas were blocked off and you couldn't buy those things. I think things like bandaids etc were among those 'forbidden' items.

[El Mimbreno]

8. Missouri, same decade:

you could buy baby formula, but not a bottle to dispense it.

[Demtexan]

18. I think you could buy beer after 12 noon on Sunday.

We had cover stuff up.

[El Mimbreno]

22. 3.2 but it'll do.

AKA Sunday beer - 3.2%

[Demtexan]

17. Blue laws.

I worked in a grocery store back then.

It was really stupid what you could and could not buy.

[dhol82]

9. Orthodox areas of Brooklyn and Long Island force the shopkeepers to close on Saturdays.

They can evidently be quite intimidating to the owners.
Doesn’t seem to be just one religion.

[More_Cowbell]

10. My brother couldn't buy a car in Denver on a Sunday

I remember visiting my brother once and he took me around to a car lot and showed me the car he was going to buy on Monday because you couldn't buy them on Sundays. He told me that Colorado regulators have been changing the law, but the dealers like being closed.

We also couldn't buy anything but 3.2 beer. This was years ago.

[Angry Dragon]

14. Can't buy a car in Minnesota on Sumday forever

Just changed where you can buy liquor on Sunday 11-6

[El Mimbreno]

23. Colorado 1990s...

You could buy 3.2 beer just about anywhere, every day, but for "regular" beer you had to go to a liquor store. But they couldn't sell any food items to go with your beer. Don't know if that's changed.

[sarge43]

11. Yeah, nothing says charity (loving kindness) like bullying someone. n/t

[Mariana]

19. Churches don't like competition.

If there is anything else to do on Sunday, fewer people will attend services, and there will be less money in the collection plate.

[GeorgeGist]

20. Why do these ilk assume that their god ...

is an insecure paranoiac?