The proposed Sunday closing law, which drastically increases penalties imposed by the present statute for violations of the Sunday Law of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, was opposed by the Jewish Community Relations Council of Philadelphia at public hearings before the Rules Committee of the Pennsylvania State Legislature held today.
The JCRC, which represents 31 local and national organizations as the official community relations agency of the Jewish community in the Greater Philadelphia area, opposed the proposed bill as being essentially religious legislation and therefore without place in a democracy committed to religious freedom and separation of church and state. However, the JCRC declared it would favor an amendment to the existing Sunday law which would exempt from its operation those persons who, because of religious convictions, abstain from labor and secular business on a day other than Sunday.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
