In a long-awaited decision, the Federal Constitutional Court today ruled on the constitutional complaints lodged by the two churches against Berlin’s law on store opening hours. Accordingly, the permission to open shops on the four Sundays in Advent is not compatible with the Basic Law. “We regret the reasoning behind the Federal Constitutional Court’s decision, which focuses on a religious derivation of Sunday rest. There is no other way to understand why the court only considers reasons of particular importance to be sufficient for store opening hours on the one hand, but only excludes Advent Sundays from the possibility of opening,” says Dr. Horst Groschopp, President of the HVD.
The HVD does not oppose religious freedom and the possibility of practicing it. The legal regulation that has now been declared unconstitutional took into account the concerns of the churches by limiting the opening hours to the afternoon. The HVD also expressed this in its statement requested by the court. The changed social and economic realities are also taken into account by the Berlin legislator. The majority of employees already have to give up their Sunday off due to economic realities.
Dr. Groschopp explains further: “The HVD also considers one day a week to be important for rest and relaxation and also for inner reflection. As a day for “slowing down” and the opportunity to organize your free time as you wish, Sunday has an important function. However, we had spoken out against the churches’ constitutional complaint because they negate ideological and religious plurality in Germany. Incidentally, Sunday is by no means a Christian holiday, as a look at its origins in an imperial decree shows.”
