Let’s stop the lottery yet again

By Larry L. Page - Jun 2, 2008 - 1

The anti-lottery campaign, NoLotteryArkansas, needs your help. We are not where we ought to be at this point in the campaign and need to do some serious catching-up.

I know the lottery issue is not the most important matter facing us. If Arkansas gets a lottery, the sky will not fall and civilization as we know it won’t end. However, a lottery will have a very adverse effect on our state and detrimental impact on our quality of life.

A state lottery will make Arkansas cheaper and tawdrier. Look at the 42 states that have lotteries and you’ll see that the lottery is the most regressive tax in use today. It can only generate revenue by exploiting a state’s weakest and most desperate residents. A lottery immediately inverses a state’s role from being a guardian of its most vulnerable citizens to being an economic predator of those very people.

This is why we should mount a vigorous and determined opposition to the lottery initiative. If being a defendant of “the least of these” still has meaning for us, we will take on this challenge yet again.

Any successful faith-based grass roots campaign consists of two phases. Phase one involves securing the base. That’s where we need to get up to speed. Our network of denominations, their leaders, churches, pastors and members need to get focused on the campaign and do the things necessary to make the campaign effective.

Denominational leaders and pastors need to continue to inform their members of the issue. This includes exhortations to pray and provide financial resources for the NoLotteryArkansas campaign. In addition, churches and their members should be encouraged to lead voter registration drives, engage in voter education efforts and ramp up voter turnout for the election.

Once we have phase one established, then we take the campaign and its message more public. With the necessary funds at hand and with a lot of “buss” about the opposition to the lottery and its factual basis getting the public’s attention, a lot can be accomplished in reaching that wider audience. Unfortunately, we are not yet in a position to move quickly into that second phase. With your help, we can be.

Our new Web site, NoLotteryArkansas.com, can be helpful should you choose to help us. Sections of the Web site deal with all of the campaign activities and emphases. The site includes what the Bible has to say, economic and social facts against the lottery, information regarding voter registration, contact information to schedule a speaker, how to help with financial support and components of a successful grass roots campaign.

If you don’t find what you need there, call us at 877-665-6883 or email me at llp@afec.org.

We’re all tired of having to yet again oppose a lottery gambling initiative. After beating it five times in major state-wide initiatives and numerous other times in the legislature, you’d think the issue would be settled. It is not. It is back, and we have to confront it once again. God has blessed our efforts before. I am prayerful He will do so again. But if we don’t work diligently and earnestly to defeat this lottery initiative, we will join 42 other states in exploiting our most vulnerable neighbors for crass economic means.

We Arkansans are better than that, aren’t we?

This article is reprinted from the May 29, 2008, issue of the Arkansas Baptist News, the newsjournal of the Arkansas Baptist State Convention.

The Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission works to educate Americans about the growing crisis of gambling addiction and supports legislation that would help protect citizens from falling into this dangerous trap. To learn more about this important issue, additional resources are available here. If your church is interested in purchasing materials on gambling, please visit our online bookstore and erlc.com.

Further Learning

Learn more about: Faith, Ministry, Family, Addictions, Gambling

1 comments (post your own) feed

1 On Jun 3rd, 2008, at 5:48pm, BDL wrote:

I sure hope you can beat it again. In texas of all places, we lost thanks to the nutty ann richards.

Post a Comment




Notify me of follow-up comments?

Before You Submit Your Comment (below), Read This:

Thank you for your interest in the ministry of the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission (SBC).

Comments are moderated to preserve the family-oriented nature of this website and in an attempt to avoid comment spam. We welcome opposing viewpoints, and we will not turn comments away as long as your views are presented with respect to everyone.

Your comments will not appear immediately and are subject to editing or deletion. We will make every attempt to check new comments in a timely manner, though there will likely be delays on the weekends and around holidays.

Please follow the these guidelines to insure your comments will be posted:

  1. Use a real name, at least a real first name. We find folks are less-rude online when not hiding behind a screen-name.
  2. Name-calling and vulgar-language will not be tolerated. Zero-tolerance is our policy. We will not spend time editing profanity. If it contains foul language, your post will be deleted. Oh, and we decide what is and what is not vulgar.
  3. Comments must be on topic. General comments (compliments, complaints, and otherwise) are best delivered here or expressed on your own personal Web site.
  4. And please, do not type in ALL CAPS. It looks like you're screaming at people.

Additionally, within Baptist polity, please recognize that many issues and decisions are addressed at a local church level. SBC denominational (national) offices have no control and desire no control over the activities of a local church. This entity is not responsible for overseeing and insuring the ethical behavior of Southern Baptist pastors or church members. If your concern involves a legal civil or criminal matter, we suggest you contact the proper local officials.

Issues involving pastoral staff or other church members, local Baptist associations or state Baptist conventions are local issues. Therefore the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission cannot and should not address such issues. While we regret we are unable to assist you, we encourage you to seek a biblical resolution of the issue at the local church level. If your question or submission pertains to a matter covered in this text, it is likely we will not acknowledge your submission.

Other than that, we welcome you and hope to see thoughtful discussions at ERLC.com