[eco]

Here in Utah it is very common for local businesses to be closed on the sabbath and there is strong cultural pressure among Mormons to not work or do anything that would cause someone to have to work on Sunday (e.g., shopping and going out to eat, though some take it even further by abstaining from things like online shopping or even watching television).

I don't see us headed in that direction though. It's it's becoming more and more common for businesses which had long been closed on Sunday to cave and begin opening on Sunday (it seems like it often coincides with when the children of a business owner take over). With the share of practicing Mormons in the state less than half (and falling) there is just too much missed opportunity.

Also, my own impression is that the younger generation of practicing Mormons don't seem to follow the older generations sabbath restrictions nearly as strictly. My siblings and Mormon friends almost all seem to not keep the sabbath quite as holy as our parents did.

I do wonder though if I would have spent nearly as much time as a kid dinking around on the computer and learning what became my career if my parents had let me play with friends on Sunday.

[canadaduane]

I grew up Mormon as well and have since left. But I find a lot of value in traditions like this. We (post-Mormons) tongue-in-cheek call the Sabbath "Second Saturday," but I do think there's a loss that includes both the Sabbath as a communal good and the individual "day of rest" (except for lay member leaders who are exhausted at the end of a 10-hour meeting-filled Sabbath).

Another tradition I value is the monthly single-day fast. There are contemplative, compassionate, and health benefits to fasting.

But traditions don't require you to know all of the benefits before you start doing them--they just give you the program and ask/cajole you to get with it. IMO, a memeplex that comes with "arbitrary traditions bundled with turns-out-to-have-good-reasons traditions" is better than arriving in life with a zero vector for direction--i.e. no tradition at all.

[Crisco]

I was also raised in a very Mormon influenced area (East Idaho). I'm still active and believing, but one of the things I do that's more for myself than because of cultural or religious belief is observe the Sabbath. I don't work or do school work and avoid most activities I normally do any other day. Sunday has become my favorite day. I don't worry about the coming week and can truly relax. That isn't to say I don't do anything, some Sundays I'm quite busy, but my activities are usually unrelated to my normal interests, hobbies, or daily life

I think everyone, religious or not, can benefit from having one day a week to truly separate themselves from both the daily grind and from what usually occupies their headspace.

[qwerty456127]

> some take it even further by abstaining from things like online shopping or even watching television

I used to believe Mormons don't have TVs at all and that felt admirable.