Loony Fundie Nonsense for the Masses
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The Department of Trade and Industry plans to ban all large stores from opening on Chirstmas Day, and insists the move is not religious in intent. Ostensibly to protect workers, and allow them at least one day a year with their families, a DTI representative paid lip service to the truth that there are very few Christian nuclear families in the UK today:
There is a diversity of religious groups in this country. But Christmas Day is a major part of the UK's holiday culture,he added.
And just to reassure us,
Employment Relations Minister Alan Johnson said then:Regulation will ensure that the special nature of Christmas Day is preserved and that shop workers in large stores are protected from being forced to work.
The legislation will affect any retail outlet more than 3000 sq. ft. in size which, if that's as small as I think it is*, would force at least two supermarkets I know of in Bradford, and one in Golders Green to observe the festivals of a religion followed by neither the owners, the staff nor the bulk of their customers. Perhaps, to be fair, for perfectly non-religious reasons, and for the sake of the workers, other shops should be forced to close for Eid-al-Fitr, Yom Kippur, Diwali, Chinese New Year, the Birthday of Guru Nanak, Ridvan, Kwaanza, Hogmanay and Hallowe'en. Plan to ban Christmas Day opening, BBC News, 19th October 2003.
* Sorry, I'm crap with Imperial measures (except 568ml, which I know intimately), but this useful site tells me it's 270 sq. m., which is pretty small.
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Church and State
at 14:18. Last modified on July 14 2009 at 16:44.
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September 2, 2008 10:29 PM | Reply
Christmas is really Brumalia, Juvenalia and Saturnalia splodged together. It has no connection to Jesus.