I’m really not sure what to make of this. On the one hand, part of me wants to say that the solution is to hire a lot of people who believe in celebrating the Sabbath on Saturday, and then letting them have their Sabbath off while the rest of your employees don’t work Sunday — so everyone gets the chance to observe a religious day of rest.

However, I think it’s important to truly examine the motives behind the why of this change in schedule. Family Christian Bookstores says that they view their company as a ministry, not a business, and reaching people who may be looking for materials on the Sabbath is the driving force behind this change, not the extra money making day.

After examples of secular businesses who shut down on Sundays (Chick-Fil-A and Hobby Lobby), the article gives the company’s response:

FCB President Dan Browne told the Associated Press that his company’s decision on whether to remain open on Sundays was different than a chain like Chick-fil-A because FCB sells “ministry products.” “No one’s going to go to hell for not eating a chicken sandwich,” Mr. Browne said.

I question whether or not anyone’s going to Hell for waiting until Monday to shop at FCB, and I would urge the decision makers at FCB to think very seriously about their witness in this case. Whether they truly believe that this is acceptable because they want to be open to witness on Sunday or not, most of the secular world will believe the extra open day is being done for the money. Giving this impression to the world hurts the company’s witness, I think, and the reason given doesn’t convince me that they’re necessarily doing the right thing.

It may be a little hypocritical of me to criticize this, since I have a tendency to go shopping on Sundays and I probably shouldn’t. In light of this, I’ll need to pray and study on this issue. I hope that FCB’s decision makers would (or have) done the same.