Church airs view opposing gambling
Posted on Tuesday, July 15, 2008
The United Methodist Church in Arkansas on Monday launched a campaign against the proposed state lottery.
Representatives of the denomination’s state conference said a lottery would prey on the poor. They also said the proposed constitutional amendment could open the door to casino gambling.
“One of my great concerns is what happens when we allow the government to become gambling hustlers,” said the Rev. Roger Glover, senior pastor of Dardanelle United Methodist Church.
“It’s going to hurt the poorest people the quickest, and the folks who will benefit from the revenue for scholarships will probably be the more affluent people, who won’t get caught in this sucker’s bet,” Glover said.
The Methodists plan to raise money through church members to fight the proposal. Glover said the conference will encourage each of its more than 700 congregations to have a Sunday service devoted to the issue.
Lt. Gov. Bill Halter, the lottery’s chief champion, countered that the lottery, which would fund college scholarships, is needed to break the cycle of poverty by helping more Arkansans get a college education. According to the U. S. Census Bureau, only 16. 7 percent of Arkansas adults have a bachelor’s degree. Only West Virginia has a lower rate among the states.
“I believe that we are going to have to do something about the statistics to address improving our long-term economic and income outlook,” Halter told reporters.
He said tens of thousands of Arkansans “are spending money outside our borders” on lotteries. “They are going to Tennessee, Missouri, Oklahoma, Texas and Louisiana,” he said. “We are losing literally millions of dollars every year that could be used to provide education for Arkansas citizens.” Halter said his proposal would leave defining state lotteries up to the Legislature.
“The fact is the guy walking down the street... knows what a lottery is,” he said.
Glover and Scott Trotter, a Little Rock attorney and member of Pulaski Heights United Methodist Church in Little Rock, are co-chairmen of United Methodists Against Gambling, which has been registered with the Arkansas Ethics Commission as a ballot question committee in opposition to the proposal.
Trotter, who has a long history of activism in public issues, said he would welcome a debate with Halter on the merits of the proposal. Halter responded that he would consider that.
United Methodists Against Gambling on Monday unveiled its Web site, www. votenoarkansaslottery. com.
The Methodist prohibition against games of chance goes back to its 18 th century founder John Wesley. The Rev. Phil Hathcock, who oversees Methodist congregations in Pulaski County, said in an interview that Wesley believed that gambling violated responsible stewardship and love of neighbor.
“Gambling inherently requires that for one to win, others must lose,” Hathcock said. “Wesley’s sense was that money should not be gained in an inappropriate manner and neither should it be used in an inappropriate manner.” The Methodists join two other faith-based groups in opposing the gambling measure. They include the conservative Family Council Action Committee as well as Arkansas Committee for Ethics Policy, which works with Southern Baptist, Assemblies of God, Missionary Baptist, Nazarene and Free Will Baptist congregations.
The nonprofit group Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families also has announced its opposition to the lottery plan. Arkansas’ current constitution prohibits lotteries.
Glover said he expects the Methodist group to work with the Arkansas Committee for Ethics Policy to defeat the proposal just as they did against a similar measure in 2000 that included casino gambling.
With about 179, 000 Arkansas members, the United Methodist Church is the state’s second-largest religious group after the roughly 665, 000 Southern Baptists.
Halter said that more than 30 county judges and mayors and the Arkansas AFL-CIO representing more than 60, 000 Arkansans support his proposal.
Halter is Catholic. The Catholic Diocese of Little Rock, which encompasses the state, has not taken a stand on the lottery proposal, spokesman Dennis Lee said.
Hope for Arkansas, a committee organized by Halter, circulated a petition aimed at gathering the signatures of 77, 468 registered Arkansas voters to get the proposed amendment on the Nov. 4 election ballot. That petition, bearing more than 130, 000 signatures, is at the secretary of state’s office which is in the process of verifying the signatures before deciding whether to certify the measure for the ballot.
Trotter said that public opinion polls currently tends to be favored by a majority of the voters, “but they haven’t heard the facts about this proposal yet.”
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