The Lutheran and Catholic churches in Berlin said on Monday they have filed a suit with Germany's highest court to stop a new law allowing shops to open 10 Sundays per year.The city's Lutheran Church and Catholic archbishopric said in a joint statement that German workers had a constitutional right not to work on Sundays or holidays.
The restriction "allows the free practice of religion but also recreation and a break from everyday life," the head of the legal department for Berlin's Lutheran church, Burkhard Guntau, said.
"In the interest of the people, this constitutional protection should not be put at risk in the interest of business. Protecting Sundays means protecting an important social institution, the cultural quality of society and a place for freedom of religion."
The churches said they were particularly offended that the Berlin city government had stipulated in legislation passed in November 2006 that stores may open on all four Advent Sundays before Christmas, as well as six Sundays of their choosing during the year.
They said they had filed suit ahead of a deadline to contest the new law.
Under legislation passed last year, each of Germany's 16 states are now free to liberalise their own retail opening hours.
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