wfn.org | Lutherans Invited to Study Gambling

[Brenda Williams <BRENDAW@elca.org>]

Reply-To: ElcaNews <ELCANEWS@ELCASCO.ELCA.ORG>

ELCA NEWS SERVICE

March 6, 1998

LUTHERANS INVITED TO STUDY GAMBLING
98-09-045-FI

     CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Members of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in
America (ELCA) now have some help thinking about how their Christian faith
addresses the growing availability of gambling in the United States.  The
ELCA Division for Church in Society has produced a 29-page study guide,
"Gambling: A Study for Congregations," and will send it to the church's
11,000 congregations by May.
     Current ELCA understandings of gambling are based on "Gambling and
the Public Good," a statement of the former American Lutheran Church
adopted in 1984.  The new ELCA study points out that gambling has changed
dramatically, from being largely illegal in the United States to being
entirely prohibited only in Hawaii and Utah.
     "We really haven't taken the time to consider what the expansion of
gambling means to us as Christians," said the Rev. John R. Stumme, ELCA
associate director for studies.  "This study will offer the occasion to
discuss this controversial issue."
     The ELCA's Minneapolis Area Synod asked the church to write a new
social statement on gambling, said Stumme.  "The social statement that we
have offers sufficient guidance for advocacy," he said, but "we should be
in the process of discussing this issue."
     The 1984 statement said, "The absence of direct biblical prohibition
does not resolve moral and ethical questions related to gambling."  It
suggested that people consider all related issues when "making decisions
about lending their support to legalized gambling or participating in
gambling where it is legal."
     That statement and additional research guided Dr. Robert W. Tuttle in
writing the study materials.  Tuttle is a member of Georgetown Lutheran
Church and an associate professor at George Washington University Law
School, Washington, D.C.
     The new study materials are "designed to provoke and guide discussion
of gambling" and are divided into six segments:
     "Understanding Gambling" helps the reader define gambling and grasp
the history of gambling in the United States.  It says that gambling
requires three elements -- the risk of something valued, a significant
prize and the impulse of chance.  It traces a brief history of gambling in
North America from colonial lotteries of the 17th century to "Video Lottery
Terminals" of today.
     "Gambling and the Godly Life" looks at the role of greed in gambling
and the Christian's chances of avoiding greed.  "Insofar as gambling is
entangled with greed, hopelessness, selfishness and careless stewardship,
it is an activity that is incompatible with the godly life.  If our
gambling can avoid these vices ... gambling belongs within the broad area
of Christian freedom," says the study.
     "The Vulnerability of Addiction" is an explanation of "compulsive
gambling" and the moral responsibility to help people break their
addictions.  It asks, "Does your congregation (or one in your area)
minister in any direct way to those who are addicted to gambling, or to the
families of those who are addicted?"
     "Lotteries, the Poor and the State" reviews the modern experience of
state-run lotteries and their possible impact on the poor.  "Poor people
spend a much larger proportion of their income on the lottery than do those
in middle or upper income brackets," it says, and lottery advertising seems
to target the poor.  States have become addicted to gambling, says the
study, because it is seen as an easy alternative to raising taxes.
     "Gambling and the Economic Common Good" weighs the economic benefits
of gambling against the dangers of compulsion.  This section of the study
also looks at a few examples of communities economically improved or
damaged by gambling and leads a discussion of what future gambling may have
in the United States.
     "Gambling on American Indian Reservations" explains the distinctive
status that American Indian tribes have as "domestic dependent nations."
It argues both that the same moral and economic concerns discussed earlier
apply also to gambling on reservations and that Christians need to take
into account the history and legal status of American Indian tribes.
     The purpose of the study is to facilitate discussion in ELCA
congregations.  It is not a preliminary step in the development of a social
statement for the church, so the study does not include an instrument for
formal response.  It does invite comments to the ELCA Division for Church
in Society.
     A related resource is included in the Spring 1998 edition of
"Mosaic," the ELCA's quarterly video news magazine.  "Small Town, Big
Casinos" is a segment of the program that is meant to initiate discussion
and introduce the study.

For information contact:
Ann Hafften, Director (773) 380-2958 or NEWS@ELCA.ORG
http://www.elca.org/co/news/current.html