Should we have daylight saving time?

Daylight saving time negatively affects religion

Question: Should we have daylight saving time?
Position‹2 of 2: No, we should not have daylight saving time
Argument‹3 of 3: Daylight saving time negatively affects religion

It disrupts religious practices that are based on the sun (sunrise, sunset, etc).

The argument

The case against daylight saving time here rests on the fact that clock time and solar time are not the same thing, and that for some religious observance only solar time counts. Several religions have practices that occur according to the position of the sun, including Judaism and Islam. Their obligations are fixed to sunrise and sunset, which move with the seasons but are not affected by any decision a government makes about the clock. Working life, by contrast, is fixed to the clock. Twice a year, daylight saving time pulls those two systems apart by an hour. For most people the change is an annoyance. For those whose religious practice is tied to the sun, the argument runs, the problem is larger, because the shift does not move their obligations at all — it moves everything else around them. Consider a person who practises Islam, must pray at sunrise, has a two-hour commute and must be at work by 9am. If the spring change makes the sun rise at 7am rather than 6am, that person must choose between being late for work and missing the morning prayer. Nothing about the prayer has changed; the working day has simply been shifted on top of it. The force of the example is that the burden is unequal. A clock change that costs most people some inconvenience costs observant believers a recurring conflict between their faith and their employment, imposed by the state twice a year and for reasons that have nothing to do with them. On this view, one could even argue that daylight saving time results in religious discrimination, and that a practice producing that effect on part of the population should not be retained.

Context

Several religious practices occur based on the position of the sun in the sky.

Premises

[P1]Several religions, including Judaism and Islam, tie prayers to the position of the sun at sunrise and sunset. [P2] Daylight saving time shifts these times twice a year, forcing observers to choose between their prayers and obligations like work. [P3] This burden amounts to a form of religious discrimination. [C] Therefore, because it negatively affects religion, we should not have daylight saving time.

Counter-arguments

Many of the religious practices based on the position of the sun aren't as rigid as they used to be, thus allowing for some flexibility in people's day-to-day schedule.

Rejecting the premises

[P3]If Daylight Saving Time does in fact discriminate against certain religions, then it is unintentional and can be fixed if workplaces allow later start times, breaks, or early end times for those who engage in religious practices based on the sun's position.