Dear Source:
The Good Friday liquor law is such a blatant violation of the constitutional requirement of the separation of church and state, it is amazing that no one has ever challenged it in court.
Additionally, from a religious standpoint it makes absolutely no sense. Drinking alcohol is not something bad in the context of Christian faith. The first recorded appearance of Jesus as an adult according to the Gospel was at the wedding feast of Canna, where he performed his first public miracle by changing water into WINE ! At the Last Supper, Jesus and the apostles didn't drink tea … they drank WINE! Part of the Christian religious services includes the drinking of WINE, as directed by Jesus at the Last Supper, when he said "Do this in remembrance of me". If the Virgin Islands legislature passed laws that said that you could go to jail and be fined for selling tea on Roshashana (a Jewish religious holiday), or for eating peaches during Ramadan (a Muslim religious period), such laws would be just as constitutionally offensive and religiously ridiculous a the present law regarding liquor on Good Friday. Just as tea and peaches have nothing to do with Judaism and Islam, liquor has nothing to do with Christianity.
The ridiculous nature of the V.I. Good Friday law is further evidenced by the fact that it does not prohibit the consumption of alcohol on Good Friday, nor the giving of alcohol, or the bartering of alcohol, but only the SALE of alcohol.
Moreover, it does not prohibit the sale of ALL alcohol, but only the sale of CERTAIN TYPES of alcohol.
Finally, it does not prohibit the sale of certain types of alcohol on Good Friday, but only during a specific period of 7 HOURS (from 9 AM to 4 PM) out of Good Friday's 24 hours.
George Marshall Miller
St. Thomas
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