ADVERTISEMENT
Faithfully Magazine
  • News
    • All
    • Crime
    • Politics
    • World
    Mass at Sacred Heart Church in Uvalde after a gunman killed 19 children and two teachers at nearby Robb Elementary School.

    Texas Agencies Resist Releasing Public Records on Uvalde School Shooting

    juneteenth on a flag

    Juneteenth Is a Federal Holiday: Here’s What You Need to Know

    Salvador Ramos, identified as the gunman who killed 19 students and teachers Robb Elementary in Uvalde, Texas May 24, 2022

    ‘It’s Time to Die,’ Uvalde Shooter Salvador Ramos Told Schoolchildren Before Opening Fire

    Reverend Mark Hatcher

    Philadelphia Pastor Accused of Child Rape Deemed ‘Danger to the Community’

  • Clippings
    Harry Knoesen

    Pastor Plotted to Kill Thousands of Black People, Overthrow South African Government

    The tabernacle, which is pure 18-karat gold, dates back to the 1890s, according to the Diocese of Brooklyn

    19th-Century Tabernacle Worth $2M Stolen From Church in ‘Brazen Crime of Disrespect and Hate’

    Fermin Rangel-Ramos

    Pastor Kicked Out of Church After 11 Accuse Him of Abuse to Serve At Least One Year in Prison

    rapper M.I.A.

    Rapper M.I.A. Says She’s a Born-Again Christian After Seeing ‘Vision of Jesus Christ’

  • Features
    Mass at Sacred Heart Church in Uvalde after a gunman killed 19 children and two teachers at nearby Robb Elementary School.

    Texas Agencies Resist Releasing Public Records on Uvalde School Shooting

    Celia Lewis ProPublica

    White Anti-CRT Parents Got a Black Educator Fired, Then Chased Her to Her Next Job

    Tops Friendly Markets in Buffalo, New York

    Overtly White Supremacist Ideology Is Being Sanitized and Mainstreamed

    children in a classroom getting education

    On Race and Schools, Here’s What Americans Agree and Disagree On

  • Inspiration
    • All
    • Bible
    • First-Person Essay
    • Poetry
    Everything Everywhere All At Once. (A24 Films)

    ‘Everything Everywhere All At Once’ & the Absurdity of Love as Resistance

    God Speaks Through Wombs: Poems on God's Unexpected Coming

    The Gospels Give Birth to Poetry (‘God Speaks Through Wombs’ Excerpt)

    two women talk

    100 Proverbs That Teach Us How to Speak, Listen, and Respectfully Disagree

    Rapper J Cole and a hanging tree

    J. Cole’s ‘Javari,’ the Cross, and the Lynching Tree

  • Members
  • About Us
    • Staff and Advisors
    • Write for Us
    • Advertise With Us
SUBSCRIBE
No Result
View All Result
  • News
    • All
    • Crime
    • Politics
    • World
    Mass at Sacred Heart Church in Uvalde after a gunman killed 19 children and two teachers at nearby Robb Elementary School.

    Texas Agencies Resist Releasing Public Records on Uvalde School Shooting

    juneteenth on a flag

    Juneteenth Is a Federal Holiday: Here’s What You Need to Know

    Salvador Ramos, identified as the gunman who killed 19 students and teachers Robb Elementary in Uvalde, Texas May 24, 2022

    ‘It’s Time to Die,’ Uvalde Shooter Salvador Ramos Told Schoolchildren Before Opening Fire

    Reverend Mark Hatcher

    Philadelphia Pastor Accused of Child Rape Deemed ‘Danger to the Community’

  • Clippings
    Harry Knoesen

    Pastor Plotted to Kill Thousands of Black People, Overthrow South African Government

    The tabernacle, which is pure 18-karat gold, dates back to the 1890s, according to the Diocese of Brooklyn

    19th-Century Tabernacle Worth $2M Stolen From Church in ‘Brazen Crime of Disrespect and Hate’

    Fermin Rangel-Ramos

    Pastor Kicked Out of Church After 11 Accuse Him of Abuse to Serve At Least One Year in Prison

    rapper M.I.A.

    Rapper M.I.A. Says She’s a Born-Again Christian After Seeing ‘Vision of Jesus Christ’

  • Features
    Mass at Sacred Heart Church in Uvalde after a gunman killed 19 children and two teachers at nearby Robb Elementary School.

    Texas Agencies Resist Releasing Public Records on Uvalde School Shooting

    Celia Lewis ProPublica

    White Anti-CRT Parents Got a Black Educator Fired, Then Chased Her to Her Next Job

    Tops Friendly Markets in Buffalo, New York

    Overtly White Supremacist Ideology Is Being Sanitized and Mainstreamed

    children in a classroom getting education

    On Race and Schools, Here’s What Americans Agree and Disagree On

  • Inspiration
    • All
    • Bible
    • First-Person Essay
    • Poetry
    Everything Everywhere All At Once. (A24 Films)

    ‘Everything Everywhere All At Once’ & the Absurdity of Love as Resistance

    God Speaks Through Wombs: Poems on God's Unexpected Coming

    The Gospels Give Birth to Poetry (‘God Speaks Through Wombs’ Excerpt)

    two women talk

    100 Proverbs That Teach Us How to Speak, Listen, and Respectfully Disagree

    Rapper J Cole and a hanging tree

    J. Cole’s ‘Javari,’ the Cross, and the Lynching Tree

  • Members
  • About Us
    • Staff and Advisors
    • Write for Us
    • Advertise With Us
No Result
View All Result
Faithfully Magazine
No Result
View All Result

Should the USPS Honor the Sabbath, or Amazon?

FM Editors by FM Editors
June 14, 2022
in Opinion & Analysis
Reading Time: 4 mins read
0
usps

(Photo: Joel Moysuh/Unsplash)

Share on FacebookShare on TwitterShare on RedditShare on LinkedInEmail This
ShareTweetPin It

By by Rebecca Brenner Graham, History News Network

A long-simmering debate centering on the federal government’s intersection with Christian religious beliefs has once again reared its head. No, not abortion – mail delivery.

Mosaic Coffee

On Wednesday, May 25, the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Pennsylvania decided that observing the Sunday Sabbath could not exempt a federal worker from delivering packages for Amazon, according to Reuters.

RELATED STORIES

Why We Need Nurturing Fathers

Patriarchy, Purity Culture Are Blocking Efforts to Address SBC Sexual Abuse Scandal

The carrier, Gerald Groff, had appealed on the grounds of religious discrimination. Discrimination against Christians in a Christian-centric nation might seem to be a logical impossibility considering their position of privilege in the American religious landscape. But this privilege never prevented some Sunday-observing Christians in the early republic from decrying discrimination.

Last week’s case revolved around a rural mail carrier in Pennsylvania seeking to observe Sunday Sabbath. Amazingly, the same sentence would accurately describe an example from 1809, in which Postmaster Hugh Wylie of Washington County, Pennsylvania, faced a choice between his employment and his membership in the Presbyterian church. While Wylie chose his job and considerable salary over church participation, the incident quickly became a rallying cry, a symbol of American government interference in the Christian religion.

The First Amendment declares that Congress cannot “establish” a religion “or prohibit the free exercise thereof,” meaning that Congress, tasked with postal policy, can neither declare a national religion nor prevent people from practicing theirs. Many Sunday Sabbath observers appealed to the second clause, the “free exercise” clause, to oppose Sunday mail.

They were quite loud about this in the early republic, and a hundred years later (102 to be exact) they won. Sunday mail ended in August 1912, because of an alliance between Christian lobbyists and labor activists, with a dose of Christian nationalism.

Last week’s case was only possible because the United States Postal Service (USPS) resumed some Sunday mail delivery serving Amazon in 2013. Amazon made a deal with USPS for postal workers to deliver Amazon packages on Sundays. The policy began in the metropolitan hubs of New York and Los Angeles, and then it spread nationally. Now that change is moving through the Federal court system.

The 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals decided that exempting postal carriers from Sunday shifts would burden other workers. Equity among postal employees was likewise a concern when Congress ended Sunday mail delivery in 1912. The concern in 1912 was that postal policy couldn’t exempt carriers from Sunday labor without burdening clerks. If carriers weren’t out there delivering, then clerks took on more work at local post offices to compensate. As a result, one arcane policy justification for the end of Sunday mail was equity between clerks and carriers. Of course, this was not arcane, but lived reality for clerks and carriers.

Today, many postal clerks and carriers face high demands, short staffing, and untenable work conditions. On the surface, Amazon helped to mitigate the long-term effects of Congress underfunding USPS from 2006 to 2022, as well as competition with new communication technologies. Package delivery has become more important than ever for the longevity of USPS. However, while Amazon reaps the benefits, postal clerks and carriers literally carry the burden.

The Sunday mail controversy of the early republic reflected broadly shared anxieties about disestablishment, the complex process of separating church from state in a new nation. Likewise, today’s controversy demonstrates anxiety about the role of Amazon in society. Labor issues at Amazon are no secret, and the inability of a federal postal worker in Pennsylvania – not directly employed by the private company but obliged by the USPS to work on its behalf on Sundays – is one symptom.
The dissenting judge in last week’s case claimed that the extent of the burden on USPS was unclear. That judge, Circuit Judge Thomas Hardiman, wanted to allow an individual exemption for one postal worker, Gerald Groff, to observe Sunday sacred rest on the grounds that it wouldn’t really inconvenience business.

When Judge Hardiman questioned whether a labor exemption for one Sunday observer constituted inconvenience, maybe he was really asking why Amazon was so important that federal workers must devote their weekends to oblige it. This case about religious discrimination seems to be about labor exploitation.

An alliance between Christian nationalists like Wilbur F. Crafts and labor movements transformed postal and other policies at the onset of the twentieth century. A century later, Amazon broke that alliance by setting precedent to resume Sunday mail delivery to maximize efficiency and profit. Judge Hardiman’s dissent asks, what does inconvenience really mean, and why does it matter?

The 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals’ decision proves that powerful corporations like Amazon have surpassed even Christian nationalism in the race to set postal policy. Instead of decrying religious discrimination, activists and people who simply want to enjoy their weekends should campaign for labor rights. This endeavor will require separating Christian morality from labor movements, which have historically been intertwined.

Everyone deserves rest regardless of whether the rest is sacred. If corporations like Amazon can accept slightly less than maximal profits, then Americans can enjoy time outside of work, and Gerald Groff will be free to attend church.

Editor’s note: This article was republished from History News Network under a Creative Commons license.


Rebecca Brenner Graham earned her PhD in history from American University in 2021. Her dissertation, “When Mail Arrived on Sundays, 1810-1912,” traces American nineteenth-century religion-state relations through the lens of Sunday mail delivery.

Leave your vote

0 Points
Upvote Downvote

Browse and manage your votes from your Member Profile Page

What's Your Reaction?

  • AngryAngry
    0
    Angry
  • CuteCute
    0
    Cute
  • CryCry
    0
    Cry
  • LOLLOL
    0
    LOL
  • LoveLove
    0
    Love
  • OMGOMG
    0
    OMG

REPRINT REQUESTS | MEMBERSHIPS | GIVE



Share This Post

Share via

Share This Post

  • Digg
  • Tumblr
  • Flipboard
  • SMS
More
  • Report
ShareTweetPin It
FM Editors

FM Editors

Faithfully Magazine is a fresh, bold and exciting news and culture publication that covers issues, conversations and events impacting Christian communities of color.

Related Posts

fathers

Why We Need Nurturing Fathers

woman holds her head in her hands

Patriarchy, Purity Culture Are Blocking Efforts to Address SBC Sexual Abuse Scandal

Recent Violence Shows the Need to Teach More Asian American History

Abortion Right Guaranteed by Roe Will Be Replaced by State Power if Supreme Court Adopts Alito’s Leaked Opinion

Upcoming Live Events

There are no upcoming Events at this time.

Recently Published

  • Texas Agencies Resist Releasing Public Records on Uvalde School Shooting
  • Why We Need Nurturing Fathers
  • White Anti-CRT Parents Got a Black Educator Fired, Then Chased Her to Her Next Job
  • Juneteenth Is a Federal Holiday: Here’s What You Need to Know
  • Patriarchy, Purity Culture Are Blocking Efforts to Address SBC Sexual Abuse Scandal
Mosaic Coffee
  • Privacy Policy
  • Contact Us
  • Shop
  • Newsletter

© 2022 Faithfully Media LLC, owner and operator. All rights reserved. This site participates in the Amazon Associates program, and other affiliate programs, and may earn a commission from your purchases.

No Result
View All Result
  • News
  • Clippings
  • Features
  • Spotlight
  • Inspiration
  • Log In
    • Your Profile
Share via

Share This Post

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Reddit
  • Email
  • WhatsApp
  • Copy Link
  • Tumblr
  • Digg
  • Flipboard
  • SMS
close

Log In

Sign In

Login with Facebook
Login with Twitter
Forgot password?

Don't have an account? Register

Forgot password?

Enter your account data and we will send you a link to reset your password.

Back to Login

Your password reset link appears to be invalid or expired.

Log in

Privacy Policy

Accept

Add to Collection

  • Public collection title

  • Private collection title

No Collections

Here you'll find all collections you've created before.

This website uses cookies. By continuing to use this website you are giving consent to cookies being used. Visit our Privacy and Cookie Policy.
Send this to a friend