GC28 Gambling (1980G151)

WHEREAS the gospel calls us to risk and adventure in the name of Jesus Christ; and the example of those who have followed him in obedience even to the cross as they upheld justice and promoted shalom, challenges us to high commitment and trust; and

WHEREAS the response of the church through the office of Church in Society and in regional reports given at the meeting of the Working Unit on Social Concerns and Justice in March indicates the need for an interpretation of the resolution on lotteries and gambling passed by the 27th General Council which will state specifically some implications of that action by the General Council; and

WHEREAS the increase in gambling is but one more manifestation of the current climate of materialism suggesting that we are trying to live by fate and not by faith; and

WHEREAS the preoccupation with gambling is a kind of submersion of the taxation system (in fact, a regressive form of taxation) and a diversion of funds from genuine social benefits, which demonstrates the failure of federal and provincial governments to set priorities; and

WHEREAS the use of lottery funds for support for the arts, sports and physical fitness programs and other creative pursuits is further evidence of the failure to provide adequate funding for these areas, leaving them to the vagaries of chance and the whims of bureaucratic paternalism; and

WHEREAS there is pressure for casino gambling as well as other forms which reports (Kefauver, etc.) show lead to infiltration of organized crime as well as the corrosion of cultural, civic and moral values:

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the London Conference Division of Mission in Canada through the London Conference memorialize the 28th General Council:

1. to petition the government of Canada, and provincial governments, to withdraw support of organized gambling in our country;
2. to re-affirm its opposition to gambling in all its forms;
3. in keeping with the implication of the report of the 27th General Council, to call upon the members of The United Church of Canada to be aware of and protest the attack upon the moral future of our nation which is taking place through the false hope, seduction to indulgence and manipulation of people by slick advertising and clever promotion of government sponsored and other lotteries;
4. to request that all United Church members refrain from the purchase of lottery tickets, protest the use of them in any organizations to which they may belong and request presbyteries to communicate these convictions to members of provincial legislatures and the federal parliament.

1980 ROP, p. 751