Blue Laws
This is an interesting topic, and one reason we feel this way is that we lived them back in the 1960s. What is also interesting is that, except for one brief mention, no one talks about the history of blue laws outside of the US.
We know that the US did not have a monopoly on these types of laws. We are writing this article as a change of pace, something to relax one’s mind and take a breather from all the other issues going on in the secular and spiritual worlds.
The Bible says there is nothing new under the sun, and if you think the American blue laws were the original ones, then you would be in error. These types of laws, as far as we know right now, started back in the late Roman Empire:
Were there such laws prior to the advent of Christianity? It is hard to tell, as so far any historical record we have come across is silent on this topic. In America, the first blue law was enacted in the 17th century:
Virginia enacted the first Sunday law in the American colonies in 1610. It ordered every man and woman to “repair in the morning to the divine service” on Sundays; law breakers could be fined, whipped or even executed.( source)
With such strict punishments, it is no wonder that people did not like the Puritans or Christianity. We certainly would not agree with such harsh responses to violating the blue laws. It was not long before other states followed suit
Other colonies followed suit. Massachusetts, for example, enacted a law in 1671 banning unnecessary work, travel and “sports and recreations” on Sundays. As Alexis McCrossen writes in her book Holy Day, Holiday: The American Sunday, Sunday observance was “common” but not “uniform” in colonial America. (Ibid)
Puritans were not the only religious group that enacted blue laws, which is why we added the word Christianity above. Needless to say, we did not have a problem with blue laws growing up. We were attending church and going home to the traditional Sunday dinner, so there was never any time to shop or go out and be entertained.
Maybe those outside of Christianity did not like them, but none of our unbelieving friends ever mentioned it if they or their parents did. It was a different time back then, and even unbelievers respected the church and religious faith, unlike today’s world.
If you are not sure what blue laws are, here is a brief explanation:
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Why were they called blue laws? No one actually knows the origin of their label, but here is one explanation:
The origin of the term “blue laws” is uncertain. According to one popular theory, the term comes from the Blue Laws of Connecticut, a collection of the colony’s laws drafted in 1655 and printed on blue paper. This was not the original title, however; the work only became known as Blue Laws of Connecticut many years later. According to another theory, opponents of strict New England puritanism may have coined the term “blue laws” as a pejorative description of the Connecticut law code. “Blue,” in the parlance of the time, meant “rigid, gloomy, over-strict,” according to one 19th-century edition of the code. ( source)
Returning to the scope of the laws for a moment, some laws and punishments could cause modern people to wonder how the church was effective in its day. It seems that the colonial church in America never learned from its experience with draconian laws enacted against it in Europe:
One could guess that they were not worried about the command to ‘do unto others as you would have them do unto you.’ The church certainly cannot complain about laws enacted against it, for its history is not so benevolent towards unbelievers and their desires.
What people may not know is that the enactment of blue laws continues today and not just in American states:
You would have to look up the blue laws in your state or country to see which, if any, are still on the books and enforced. They may be on the books but not enforced. It just depends on the mindsets of law enforcement and the legal systems.
When we thought about writing on this topic, we were thinking about the decline in morality. However, these laws were not really based on a moral code, as morality continued for a while after many were repealed.
These laws were created more on the desires of the people in power at the time. We have no stance one way or the other on blue laws except to say one has to be careful about fitting the punishment ot the crime committed.
We cannot find where the people creating these laws were doing it out of a pure heart and love for God. Or for the desire for the nation to be a healthy one instead of a self-destructing one.
But people should consider willfully not doing certain activities because they are not healthy and keep one locked in sin. Their decision should be based on their love for God, not because others demand it.
If America and other countries with these laws were actually Christian, we would not need these and many other laws. God’s wisdom would prevail, and people would behave better.
The Book of Acts gives us an example of that type of behavior. The world would be a different place if the majority of people were Christian and correctly followed the Bible.
Originally published at http://theologyarchaeology.wordpress.com on November 8, 2026.
