"Beyond keeping the Sabbath holy and attending Mass either Saturday evening or sometime on Sunday (which usually lasts about an hour), the Catholic Church has no specific instruction about participating in specific activities on Sunday," said Monica Howa-Johnson, director of communications for the Catholic Diocese of Salt Lake City.

She adds, "People are encouraged to avoid working if possible and devote the day to God and family, but the church realizes that is not always possible."

The Rev. Daniel Webster, director of communications for the Episcopalian Diocese of Utah, says, "Episcopalians, as part of our ethos, leave it to people to decide, but to discern through scripture and teaching and through their own discernment what is keeping holy the Lord's Day."

However, he adds he has taught from the pulpit that "we have to be very careful on how we live our lives on what is traditionally the Christian Sabbath on Sunday. If we contribute to more stores being open, we put more people to work on what should be the Sabbath day," he said. "The whole point of the Sabbath was to give animals and servants who work for you a day off."

LDS Church President Gordon B. Hinckley said in a talk, "There is no need for people to shop and desecrate the Sabbath day by buying things on Sunday. That is not the time to buy groceries. You have six days of the week, and you all have a refrigerator."

He added, "You do not have to shop on Sunday. Do not buy furniture on Sunday; buy it the other days of the week. You will not lose anything if you do your shopping the other days and do not do it on Sunday. Let this be a day of meditation, of reading the scriptures, of talking with your families, and of dwelling on the things of God. If you do so, you will be blessed."

Varying views among churches on Sunday shopping seem to be reflected in the new poll.

It showed that 76 percent of Catholics surveyed would shop on Sunday as if it were "any other day of the week," as did 61 percent of Protestants, 73 percent of those who belong to other churches and 91 percent of those who said they belonged to no church.

Meanwhile, only 13 percent of LDS members surveyed said they would shop that way. Meanwhile, 59 percent of them said they would shop on Sundays only for pressing needs such as medicine; 11 percent would shop for items needed that day, such as food; 2 percent would shop after attending to religious duties; and 8 percent said they would never shop on Sundays.

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E-mail: lee@desnews.com