An Idea

In the Holy Land, come Friday, Muslim shops and businesses close down tight in preparation for the holy day of Islam. This fantastic idea seems incredibly foreign in America, the “land of the free,” where few could imagine stores closing on any specific day.

To preface this, I fully realize that America isn’t – and never has been – a Christian country. (Contrary to popular belief in the current moral degradation of the US, which presupposes a totally fictitious golden age of yester-year in which our forebears were devoutly Christian [which they weren’t], and people were super-godly, pious, and virtually Christ-like in every way [which isn’t possible].) Ours is a country of many different religions and faiths, and to have a holy day celebrated by, for instance, the three faiths of Abraham, then Friday, Saturday, and Sunday are pretty much out of the question. It’s not going to happen.

But just look, for the moment, at the counter-cultural ramifications of closing shop on one day a week – all of the sudden, there is one day a week where we are forced to intentionally set out to experience the holy. We are limited in what we can do: No running to the store for a quick snack; no going out to eat for brunch; no ability to spend money or be consumers in any respect whatsoever. We would need to get creative in how we spend our time. We would not be able to get whatever we want, whenever we wanted it. We would have to do things that (gasp!) don’t require money.

That sounds like a holy day to me.

This will not happen in America, obviously. But it won’t be in the name of religious freedom or tolerance: It will be defended in the name of fervent capitalism – our national religion. There is simply no way any company will close its doors for a day. Imagine the money lost! (Plus, if every other store closed…well…I hear Wal-mart calling…)

Yet I still find this idea to be compelling, however it might be envisioned.

My vote’s for Monday.