Letter: Regardless of all else, sport on the Sabbath is a breach of the fourth commandment

Rev Gordon Dane in his rather nebulous and uncertain contribution regarding Sunday football (“Churches’ concerns over push for Sunday football’, September 22) fails to mention the fundamental point regarding sport on the Sabbath - it is a breach of the fourth commandment. Whether or not a Christian is able to play for a particular club is a side issue.

https://www.newsletter.co.uk/news/people/sunday-football-protests-on-the-cards-if-irish-league-presses-ahead-with-regular-soccer-on-the-sabbath-4345105

The primary reason why all sport should be forbidden on the Sabbath is because God requires that day to be set aside for His worship. Rev Dane has in fact diminished the importance of the Sabbath by reducing the matter to a question of the rights of Christians rather than placing the emphasis where it should be, on the glory of God. This is not altogether surprising given that Rev Dane, along with the vast majority of professed evangelicals, demonstrated the low value they place upon the Sabbath when, in craven compliance with state demands, they ceased to publicly worship God for large periods during 2020 and 2021. It is to be expected that secular organisations like the IFA will seek to exploit this.

Richard Ferguson, Dollingstown