Religious Freedom
Standard Time has been known as “God’s time”123 to many farmers and religious populations, for its proximity to natural (solar) time. DST’s arbitrarily added hour disrupts time-based prayers, creates scheduling conflicts for worshipers each morning and night, and places undue burden on their surrounding communities and businesses.
Judaism, for example, calls for daily prayers that are timed to sunrise, but permanent DST’s artificially delayed sunrises would force morning prayers to overlap with work hours in winter. Other observations are timed to sunset, and permanent DST’s artificial delay of sunset reduces the number of business that remain open into twilight.4567
Agudath Israel of America,6 Agudath Israel of Florida,5 and Agudath Israel of Chicago7 have all opposed permanent DST, citing civil liberties and religious freedom. See Save Standard Time’s list of policy endorsements for additional organizations and individuals of note who reject permanent DST and support permanent Standard Time.
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Works Cited
1The Financial History of Daylight SavingBankrate
2Why Do We Have Daylight Saving Time in Alaska?KTUU-TV
3Changing Clocks Is Bad for Your Health, but Which Time to Choose?Kaiser Health News
4Do We Still Need Daylight Saving Time?Mother Nature Network
5Florida’s Proposed Change to Permanent Daylight Savings Time Could Create Halachic Problems for Jewish CommunityVos Iz Neias?
6Orthodox Group Asks Congressman to Withdraw Year-Round Daylight Time BillJewish Telegraph Agency
7Opinion of the People – Daylight Saving BillChicago Sun–Times