Reply To: About the Government of Israel, I do shudder

True, they don’t, but they like to fancy themselves a Western-style democracy, where religious coercion is obviously not seen as desired. One can argue, though, as I would, that laws restricting public commerce on sabbath (Israeli sumptuary/blue laws) do promote a positive atmosphere (it is accepted widely that every society needs one day to rest, and for Christians, certainly in America, Sunday Blue Laws promoted a sense of rest and were an effort to retain a public religious consciousness that is missing nowadays) and uphold the Jewish character of the state.