I was asked the other day, “Why is your church so opposed to the lottery?” 

 

The United Methodist Church opposes gambling in all its forms because we believe that it violates the spirit and the imperative contained in Jesus’ words: “… you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind and with all your strength” (Mark 12:29-30). Gambling violates this commandment. 

 

Because gambling is based on human greed, it replaces God with an avaricious desire to get rich quick. Wealth becomes more important than God. In that sense, it violates the first of the Ten Commandments as well. It also violates the gift of the mind which God has given. If you do the math, most of the money spent on so-called “educational” lotteries goes not to education but to prizes and administration and profits for some company. It makes no financial sense. 

 

Gambling also preys on the neighbor, even if you don’t place a bet or buy a ticket yourself. When I lived in El Paso, Texas, the Texas Lottery was begun. In the first week of the lottery, the poorest precinct in El Paso was the highest per capita participant in the state of Texas. There is no impulse to “love your neighbor as yourself” when you encourage or allow systems of regressive taxation and practices that are demeaning and destructive to the fabric of life and to the fabric of the community. The lottery is a cruel joke that masquerades as a civic necessity and a public service, all the while preying on those least able to tolerate the loss of money that must inevitably come from gambling. Gambling is morally and ethically bankrupt.

 

I will not be buying a lottery ticket. A very small percentage of the money goes to scholarships after the prizes are given and the administration of the lottery is funded and the profit of those running the lottery assured. Because I do believe in the importance of education, I will continue to make a yearly donation to Hendrix College and my other alma maters. I will be giving to Hendrix or one of “my” schools where allmy money will support the student, and not support greed.

 

Frankly, in a day when in the political sphere we talk much of family values, I cannot understand how government can even begin to sponsor or tolerate practices or programs that feed on human weakness. I cannot understand how government and responsible civic leaders would want to encourage a “something for nothing” philosophy — particularly in a country where we affirm and value work. 

 

My prayer is that each one of you will act to defeat the allowance of a practice that is demeaning, regressive, antithetical to our faith, irresponsible in good government, and damaging to the human spirit and the human community.

Faithfully,

Charles N. Crutchfield