wfn.org | Time to take stand against gambling

[JDL@MennoniteCC.ca]

July 23, 1996
Mennonite Central Committee Canada
John Longhurst, MCCC Communications
(204) 261-6381
JDL@Mennonitecc.ca

TIME FOR CHRISTIAN COMMUNITY TO TAKE A STAND AGAINST GAMBLING, MCC
MANITOBA EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR SAYS

WINNIPEG, Man. -- With an estimated $11 billion spent annually in
Canada on gambling - nearly twice the cost of running the federal
government - Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) Manitoba Executive
Director Peter Peters says it's time for the Christian community to
take a stand against gambling.
     "Many people have come to accept gambling as a socially
acceptable form of entertainment and a growing industry which
creates new jobs," Peters says.  "We are afraid to touch it, but
these are issues the church must address.  We must learn how to
work together to take a strong position on gambling, like we have
on other social issues."
     In May the MCC Manitoba Board joined other church groups in
sending an open letter to the Manitoba government expressing
concerns about the negative impact of gambling "on the fabric of
society and upon too many individuals."
     The letter, sponsored by the Gambling Concerns Coalition, goes
on to say that "a message is being given in our society that
success comes through luck rather than cooperation, sharing and
effort . . . . we believe that the massive growth of state-run
gambling is creating an encouragement to gamble that is putting at
risk the most vulnerable in our society."
     In addition to MCC Manitoba, other church groups which signed
the letter included the Salvation Army Ethics Centre and the
Winnipeg Presbytery of the United Church, 
     According to a paper prepared by the Evangelical Fellowship of
Canada, prior to 1965 legal gambling in Canada was restricted to
charity bingos, raffles, midway games of chance, pari-mutual
wagering on horse races and friendly bets between individuals.  But
today governments are no longer simply the agents responsible for
regulating the practice of gambling, but rather have a vested
interest in it and promote it.
     Says Peters: "Instead of taxing people to provide needed
social services, governments have taken the easy way to raise money
by promoting gambling.  It amounts to a taxation on the most
vulnerable people in our society."
    MCC Manitoba is one of five provincial organizations that makes 
up MCC Canada.  MCC Canada is part of MCC, which has around 650 
workers in 55 countries around the world.
    MCC is the relief, development and service arm of the North 
American Mennonite and Brethren in Christ Churches.

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John Longhurst, MCC Communications
JDL@MennoniteCC.CA
Visit our World Wide Web site at http://www.mennonitecc.ca/mcc