Tour de France start hindered by Protestant reformists
In our vigilant reporting on the ‘Jihad against fun’ sweeping the Netherlands, some heavy duty Protestant (unintentional pun intended) towns in the provinces of South Holland and Zealand where the Tour de France is planning to kick off on 4 July 2010 are saying ‘non, merci’ to the great cycling event because it kicks off on a Sunday. The SGP (Political Reformed Party) do not want townspeople to be forced to work on a Sunday because, well, it’s Sunday, and according to them, you’re not supposed to work. Some law actually gives them the right to refuse to work on Sunday, which was surely a good thing back when people worked six days a week like madmen. Lucky for us, we could save face if the organisers and the SGP can agree on a route that would not disturb the people that really want to rest on Sunday.
It’s comforting to know that a small group of people are mainly thinking of themselves and not of the greater good of the Tour starting in the Netherlands again (Den Bosch, 1996). Or maybe they really enjoy getting press and making sure the rest of the world knows that that ‘being tolerant thing’ is just a tourist trap.
Before anyone says, “yes, but they have a right to rest by law…”, let me provide a concrete solution to the problem. If you can’t (won’t) do work on the Sabbath, you get/hire/ask someone to do it for you. It doesn’t stop the Jews I know, it shouldn’t stop a single Protestant, either.
(Link: depers.nl, Photo: Orangemaster at the finish line in Paris, 2007)
if the organisers and the SGP can agree on a route that would not disturb the people that really want to rest on Sunday shall we start whispering already?
Of course that would be fine, but what if they don’t? We’ll see.
I love watching the tour. It would be exciting to watch a stage or two in the Netherlands.
I think you’re right that no person who has a religious objection to working on Sunday can be forced. Just how many people have this objection or is this just an excuse for town leaders who don’t want any part of the tour and don’t want to say so?
Your solution works for me. Hire the people with no objection and make it worth their time.
My sister and I rode in our own tour. (We were not as fast.) We cycled Haarlem to Alkmaar and back for stage one. Haarlem to Gouda. Gouda to Brussel. Brussel to Namur. Namur to Dinant. Dinant to Rethel. Rethal to Reims. Train to Paris to Vendome. Vendome to Blois. Blois to Tours. It was Fantastic. It’s good to start in a pancake flat country and spin for two or three days. It gets the legs in shape.