“Toward a Good and Just Society”

A sermon preached Thursday evening, July 26, 2007,
at First Congregational Church, Middleborough, MA,
by Rev. Peter Murdy, Pastor.

Scripture Readings: Exodus 20:1-17; Mark 12:28-34

Welcome

Thank you for coming this evening.  I especially want to thank those of you who have taken time today to pray for the town of Middleborough.  Our town is on the verge of making a momentous decision, and if ever we needed the grace and mercy and wisdom of God, it is now.

I also want to thank those of you who have come knowing that you may not hear what you want to hear but are willing to listen.  What I have to say to you comes squarely out of the Christian scriptures and reflects traditional Christian teaching on the topic of gambling.  Our culture does not readily think in these terms anymore, and I understand that.  I do not take it for granted that we are all coming at this with a common set of assumptions and principles.  So I thank you all for being here.

I also want to thank the pastors and members of other churches in the community who have chosen to come here tonight.  I know that our churches represent different theologies within Christianity, but I hope that you find here is a reflection of those things we all hold in common.

Summary

Let me begin by summarizing up front what I am going to say before I get into the details.  Our town faces a momentous decision about whether or not to approve an agreement to invite and support casino gambling to our community. 

Everyone’s concern in this matter is with the future of Middleborough, and both those for and against the proposal are acting—as they understand it—in the town’s best interest.  The problem is that most of the arguments have been financial, that is, whether or not the financial gains will outweigh the financial costs.

However, the character and health of any community is not determined simply by a financial spreadsheet.  It is determined by such things as goodness and justice.  The point that I intend to argue is this:  Gambling is inherently incompatible with a good and just society, and a good and just society will find far greater benefit from seeking to limit gambling than from supporting it, and a good and just society will certainly never seek to profit from gambling.

Two Preliminary Clarifications

That is the argument I want to make.  But before I go into the heart of that argument, I need to make two important clarifications.

Definition

First, I need to define the kind of gambling I am talking about.

About this time two years ago, I had a conversation with a young lady in our church’s youth group who happened to be a Yankees fan.  I was defending the Red Sox against that team-that-must-not-be-named and concluded by wagering a Dairy Queen Blizzard that the Red Sox would take first place in their division.  Well, when October came, my family and I treated this young lady to her blizzard.

At the time she jokingly said that I was corrupting the youth of our church by tempting her to gamble.  I suppose a rigid legalism would agree with her.  But frankly I felt no guilt.  Probably all of us at some time or another make friendly wagers like this, and the good of our society is not threatened by them.

But the kind of gambling I am talking about is of a different order.  The stakes are much higher.  The risks are much greater.  The relationships between those involved are not friendly.  The end is always extravagant gain for some and tragic loss for others.  This kind of gambling preys upon the addictive behaviors of some for the financial profit of others. 

Let there be no mistake about this.  For all the talk about a so-called “destination resort” in Middleborough with a water park, five star hotels, high end restaurants, and world-class entertainment, none of these is where the big money is.  Yes, some people will come just for these, but that is not what the financial backers are counting on.  The money for this enterprise is in the casino.  They know that people—many people—will come and gamble large sums of money that they will leave at the casino.  Some of those will gamble away money they can afford to lose.  But many will not, and lives will be severely harmed.

This is the kind of gambling I am talking about, and my argument is that this kind of gambling which seeks to profit upon the tragic misfortune of others is ethically wrong and has no place in a good and just society.

Relevance of the Argument

But this brings me to my second clarification.  Please bare with me a moment on this, for what I going to say now may sound more political and partisan.  But this is a necessary point.

Many are claiming that all that I have just said and am about to say is all well and good, but it is irrelevant.  We are going to have a casino, they say, because the law will permit it.  So the ethical arguments are irrelevant.  The only real point now is how do we make the best out of the situation.

No one can foretell the future and guarantee what will or will not happen.  But this is for certain.  If the town votes no on the proposed agreement, it is very unlikely that a casino will ever be built here.  You must understand that it is very important for the backers of the casino to have the support of the local community.  Without that local support, it will be extremely difficult for the land that has been purchased to be put into trust and be used for a casino.

Think about this: Why do you think that the backers of this effort are spending so much money on telemarketing campaigns and mailings, and pushing so hard and so fast for your support?  If town support were not needed for their business plan, they would not be courting that support so feverishly.

My point is this: The ethical argument is relevant.  You do not have to fear that voting NO will put the town in financial jeopardy. You do not have to fear that a moral vote is a meaningless vote.  You are free to consider the ethical argument I am about to make and vote your convictions.  It is tremendously important to understand this.

Main Arguments

So what is that argument?  Again, it is this: Gambling (as I have defined it) is incompatible with a good and just society, and a good and just society will find far greater benefit from seeking to limit gambling than from supporting it, and a good and just society will certainly never seek to profit from gambling.

I have three points in support of this:

Love of Our Neighbors

The first major problem with the kind of gambling proposed for Middleboro is that it violates one of the most basic ethical principles of Christianity: love for one’s neighbor.

The Ten Commandments which were read for us are often divided into two parts, the first part dealing with our relationship with God, and the second with our relationship to our fellow human beings.  This is why Jesus summed of the entire law as loving God with all your heart and soul and mind and strength, and loving your neighbor as yourself. 

Loving our neighbors means dealing honestly with them.  It means engaging in just business practices in which fair value is given for goods and services rendered.  It means caring for the weak and the hurting.  Taking advantage of our neighbors is not loving them.

It is a fact that a casino located in Middleborough will have the greatest impact on people within a fifty mile radius of the town.  These are your neighbors in Plymouth, Taunton, Bridgewater, and so on.  To be sure, many of them will come for a meal, an entertaining show, and perhaps a carefully limited and disciplined half hour before the slot machines, and they will not be noticeably harmed.  But many will come without discipline and with vain hopes and dreams.  They will return home having lost the ability to pay that month’s mortgage or to pay for their family’s food.  Marriages will be broken.  Lives will be destroyed.

Consider these bona fide facts: Gambling addiction rates double within fifty miles of a casino.  A casino within ten miles of a home yields a 90% increased risk that its occupants will become pathological or problem gamblers.  Bankruptcy rates in areas with casinos are double those of the rest of the country.  Between 20% and 30% of addicted gamblers attempt suicide, greater than any other addictive population.

It is true that those determined to do so will find some place to gamble away their savings whether or not there is a casino in Middleborough.  But who are we to put such temptation before a neighbor we are called by our Creator to love and not injure? 

Let us be honest.  The purpose of the proposed casino is to turn a business profit and balance a town budget with money reaped from other people’s—our neighbors’—losses and sufferings.  This is not love.

Some will say, well, yes, we are to love our neighbor.  But don’t our neighbors include the Wampanoags?  Shouldn’t we demonstrate love for them by permitting them to run a business that they have been legally permitted to operate in other places?

By all means the Wampanoags are also our neighbors, and we should be ready to welcome them to Middleborough if they want to come here.  But we should also let it be known that our welcome is conditional, that there be no casino that will do injury to others who are also our neighbors. 

Gambling preys on the desperation of the poor.  It is a fact that the poorest and the least educated spend disproportionably more on gambling.  Yet the Bible tells us again and again to look out for the poor and disadvantaged and warns us against taking advantage of them. 

We should not be placing temptation before the most vulnerable members of our society.  There is already more than enough temptation for too many in the commonwealth with the lottery.  Love of our neighbor compels us to say NO to a casino.

Attitude Toward Money

A second major problem with gambling is that it corrupts our thinking about money.

The Bible says a great deal about money.  Moneys itself is neither good nor bad.  But we can relate to it in good or bad ways.  

The proper way is this: We are to gain money ethically through useful labor, or the fair exchange of goods and services.  We are to use it to provide for our families and to do good to and for others.

Gambling, however, corrupts that proper relationship with money.  Gambling moves people in one of two directions, both of which are wrong.

Either it encourages what the tenth commandment calls coveting, which is the desire to have more and more of what belongs to others. Putting ten dollars on the table and getting twenty back is not enough.  The gambler always wants more.  Money becomes a substitute god, the heart’s greatest desire.  As the Bible says, “People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil.”  (1 Timothy 6:9-10)  And the love of money is cultivated by gambling.

But there is another, more subtle way that gambling corrupts our attitude toward money.  We already live in a culture where we spend too much on needless frivolities.  Money pours from our wallets and purses for things that satisfy for a moment and are quickly discarded or forgotten.  Just the change that piles up in our jars and drawers could go a long way to relieve the pain and suffering of hundreds of thousands—if not millions—of people in our world where vast numbers live each day on less that what we pay for a cup of coffee.

Gambling takes frivolous spending and raises it to an art form.  It encourages people to view money not just as a means to entertainment, but as entertainment itself.  The very losing of what could be put to so much good is seen as entertainment.  God has graciously allowed us to become a very wealthy people.  This is a terrible use of his good gifts.

Trust in God

Finally, gambling undercuts our relationship with God.

One of the most fundamental biblical principles is to live our lives with trust before God.   God is consistently portrayed for us as the faithful Father who provides for his children.  He invites all people everywhere to turn from their sin and come to him in faith through Jesus Christ.  We are repeatedly assured that no one who places his or her hope in God will ever be disappointed.

“I am the LORD,” God says in Isaiah 49, “those who hope in me will not be disappointed."  (Isaiah 49:23)

As the Psalmist says, “The eyes of the LORD are on those who fear him, on those whose hope is in his unfailing love.”  (Psalm 33:18)

Gambling is fundamentally antithetical to such hope and trust.  It diverts our hope from the sovereign God to the capricious roll of the dice.  We do often have concerns about our finances.  It is tempting to look to a slot machine or a scratch ticket or a lotto jackpot as the solution to our needs.  But that is not where we are told to look.

Jesus said, “Do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? … Do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For the peoples of the world run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” (Matthew 6:25-33)

Concluding Points

Gambling violates the basic biblical principle that we are to love our neighbors.  It further twists our already confused attitudes toward money.  And it subverts our trust in God.  For all these reasons, and more, gambling has always been recognized as inconsistent with a just and good society.  Gambling has never made a society more virtuous.  There is not a single virtue attached to it.  Rather it has always ended in disappointment for those who have embraced it. 

And that is my argument: Gambling is inherently incompatible with a good and just society, and a good and just society will find far greater benefit from seeking to limit gambling than from supporting it, and a good and just society will certainly not seek to profit from gambling.

At the end of the day, when all this is over and a decision is made one way or another, we will all have to live with one another.  It is also part of the Christian faith to forgive and to seek reconciliation.  Whether you are pleased or disappointed with the outcome of Saturday’s vote, make plans now to reach out to a neighbor with whom you have disagreed and demonstrate Christian love.

As for this church and other present here tonight, preaching against gambling is not our primary mission.  Our purpose is to proclaim for all the life-giving Gospel of Jesus Christ who invites us to come to him for forgiveness and a new life which ultimately one day will be free of all the addictions that plague us.  We will be here with that Gospel whether or not there is a casino.

But until a final decision is made, remember this: People are saying that we take too great a risk if we do not avail ourselves of this opportunity to address our town’s financial woes.  Indeed, one leader of our town has said that without the proposed casino our town faces a future without hope.

I say he has it all wrong.  The best hope for Middleborough lies in refusing the temptation offered to us.  Then people looking for a place to live will know that Middleborough is a place that wants something better for its children than the false illusion of casino riches.  And they will say, “That’s a place I want to live, too.”