Cultural and Behavioral Obstacles to Family Formation...
Church attendance in the United States has collapsed over the past 50 years with profound consequences for individuals, families, and society....

A greater preoccupation with and demand for consumer goods and experiences have raised the perceived opportunity cost of weekly worship on a weekend as retail and entertainment options have exploded. Blue-law repeals have produced quasi-experimental evidence that when secular substitutes become more accessible, attendance and church giving drop (suggesting that a restoration of blue laws could have a restorative effect).125
Jonathan Gruber, and Daniel M. Hungerman,

Pressure to spend more time at work, either from careerism on one end or inflation on the other, has reallocated evenings and weekends away from neighborhood organizations. These trends have weakened the local social capital that historically supported congregational life.

Research from Harvard University?s Human Flourishing Program (more than 66,000 participants in a 14-year study) showed that regular religious service attendance is associated with 50 percent lower divorce rates in later life.

Support for a Uniform Day of Rest.
As zoning laws allow a community to determine where one can operate certain businesses, ?blue laws? reflect the local judgments as to when one can operate certain businesses.

In the case of McGowan v. Maryland (1961), the Supreme Court held by an eight-to-one vote that Sunday-closings laws that include the purpose of providing a uniform day of rest are constitutional and can accommodate the fact that the majority of people who take a day of rest for religious reasons do so on Sundays. Massachusetts, for example, requires that ?every employer of labor engaged in carrying on any manufacturing, mechanical or mercantile establishment or workshop...shall allow every person...at least twenty-four consecutive hours of rest...in every seven consecutive days.?
Mass. Gen. Law ch. 149, ? 48.

Blue laws persist in some form in close to 28 states.
?Blue Laws by State 2025,? World Population Review,

These places serve as a sort of legal reservoir. Once their day-of-rest laws are abolished, they are very hard to restore.

A uniform day of rest that limits commercial activity can provide temporal boundaries that help communities to set aside time for religious observance, family gatherings, outdoor activities, and rest. A stable base of research shows that these practices correlate with better mental health, stronger social bonds, and more stable family structures.

With the advent of on-demand delivery, shopping can be shifted easily and conveniently to other days of the week. By restoring a common rhythm of rest and reflection, community rest laws could help to reverse the trend toward ?spiritual homelessness? and foster the social habits necessary for communities to cohere and flourish.

Despite today?s on-demand culture, the U.S. Postal Service does not deliver regular mail on Sundays, most organized youth sports avoid Sunday competitions, and most banks are closed on Sundays. The ever-popular Chick-Fil-A chain closes its restaurants on Sundays for the benefit of its workers and their families. Where new, planned communities or transitioning communities form, they should consider adding rest days as part of their master plans for balanced and thriving community life.

When governments actively protect and accommodate religious practice?through robust conscience protections, religious exemptions, and equal treatment of faith-based institutions?they create an environment in which religiosity can flourish. Studies consistently show that religious liberty protections correlate with higher levels of religious participation and vitality.