With a joint communiqué issued on 9 June, the German Bishops’ Conference and the German Evangelic Church (EKD) have commented on the implications of the sentence of the Constitutional Court that has rejected the appeal of a commercial chain that had applied for a liberalization of working hours, making Sunday and holidays equivalent to weekdays. The German Churches says the press release “welcome the fact that with this sentence the Constitutional Court has expressly guaranteed the weekly rest day sanctioned by the Constitution”. “The Churches have always actively campaigned for Sunday as a rest day […] due not only to the religious significance of Sunday, but also on social and socio-political grounds”. “Apart from the obligation to participate in religious services continue the churches the commandment to observe Sunday also contains the commandment to keep a day of rest. This day therefore becomes the guarantor of a freedom that corresponds to the person and to his/her religious and social needs”.
