WHEN MALLS STAY OPEN ON SUNDAYS, THE PIOUS PARTY

Who knew Satan worked at the local mall?

While bars, cheap hotels and similar places of questionable repute may
remain America's favorite spots to sin, two economists say that giving
people an extra day to shop at the mall also contributes significantly
to wicked behavior -- particularly among people who are the most religious.

Jonathan Gruber of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and
Daniel M. Hungerman of the University of Notre Dame discovered the
malevolent Mall Effect by studying what happened when states and
counties repeal "blue laws." Those statutes prohibit the sale on
Sunday of certain nonessential items, such as appliances, furniture
and jewelry, typically sold in shopping malls, as well as liquor and
cigarettes.

Gruber and Hungerman found that when states eliminated blue laws,
church attendance declined while drinking and drug use increased
significantly among young adults. Even more striking, the biggest
change in bad behavior mostly occurred among those who frequently
attended religious services, they report in a working paper published
by the National Bureau of Economic Research, "The Church vs. the
Mall: What Happens When Religion Faces Increased Secular Competition?"

At one time, all but eight states had blue laws. Today 13 have
statewide Sunday selling bans on some products or leave it up to local
jurisdictions to decide, with mall owners among those leading the
fight to get these statutes off the books.

It turns out those business owners may be doing the devil's work.
Before the shopping ban was lifted, about 37 percent of people in a
state on average attended religious services at least weekly,
Hungerman said. "After the laws are repealed it falls to 32 percent"
- -- a drop "not driven by declines in religiosity prior to the law change."

Instead of going to church, many of the faithful apparently were going
astray. Marijuana use increased by 11 percentage points among church
attendees, compared with those who never went to services, after the
shopping ban was lifted. Cocaine use increased by nearly 4 percentage
points, and heavy drinking increased by about 5 1/2 percentage points
among churchgoers compared with those who never went to services, with
frequent attendees even more likely to go on benders.

Hmmm. Interesting, but why would the elimination of blue laws suddenly
provoke such an outburst of sinning among the religious? After all,
there are six other days of the week to shop (or drink) until you
drop. And it's not legal to buy cocaine or marijuana on any day of the
week.

"That's the million-dollar question," Hungerman said. He suspects that
keeping businesses open on Sunday means that some religious young
people have to work or choose to go shopping, which apparently
increases their exposure to sinners or otherwise weakens their
resistance to the dark side.

"Instead of being in church, you're working or shopping in the mall
surrounded by 'party animals,' " he said.