Later today, barring last minute developments, Labour and SNP MPs will temporarily unite with the Conservatives’ religious right to defeat the government’s plans to liberalise Sunday trading laws — echoing the defeat which Mrs Thatcher suffered on the same subject 30 years ago. The Left will chirrup, but why is it apparently in favour of keeping Sunday special when logic dictates that it ought to be against?
The Reverend Giles Fraser aside, the Left nowadays is generally quite anti-God –– or it is certainly against the promotion of Christianity as an established religion. In the diverse, multi-cultural society of its dreams, no religion is superior than any other and none of them should be trying to impose their beliefs on others. So why are they seeking to preserve the institution of the Christian Sabbath when surely they should be arguing that it is a form of discrimination against non-Christians? If you are a Muslim or a Jew there is nothing special about Sunday; on the contrary, you might find yourself expected to work on your own special day in order that Sunday be preserved as a day of national rest.
There are two possible explanations for the Left’s position on Sunday trading.
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