Gambling in Kansas

 

 

Open Heart 

Gambling is a part of life in Kansas and is giving some Native Americans hope for a better future.  At the same time, many feel the spiritual and social losses do not make gambling “the best bet” for Kansas.  The primary value is spiritual health; gambling must be replaced with an economic alternative based in justice and a spiritual peace in all persons eliminating the need for the thrills of gambling or the hope for instant wealth. 

The gambling issue is complex for Kansas United Methodists.  The United Methodist Book of Discipline condemns gambling as a “menace to society, deadly to the best interests of moral, social, economic and spiritual life¼and destructive of good government.”  At the same time, the United Methodist Church supports Native American sovereignty.  Tribes once owned 2 billion acres of land in American; through broken treaties they own 130th of what they once owned.  Tribes were given land far away from economic development and poverty resulted.  Some Native Americans feel this is a necessary road while other Native Americans are opposed to gambling.

Native Americans form alliances with the gaming industry because of much deeper justice issues that still divide Native Americans from the rest of American society.  The desperation felt by tribes establishing casinos needs to be understood.  More than any other response churches can make is one of listening to the still unheard and unheeded voices of Native Americans.  The human desire and/or addition to gambling needs to be better understood: its causes and its treatment.

 

Open Mind 

Exodus 20:17 specifies that we are not to covet what we do not have.  The Biblical invitation is to be content with what you have and to work for what you do not have. 

Proverbs and Psalms affirm the values of “eating the fruit of your labor.”

Hebrews 13:5 – “Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, ‘Never will I leave you, never will I forsake you.’”

I Peter 5:2 urges us not to be greedy, but to be eager to serve.

Questions for discussion:  Who benefits from the gambling money?  Can true happiness be bought?  Does the quality of life involve possessions?  Does your status before God need wealth?   

Resources: 

·         The whole issue of Christian Social Action, Feb. 1997 is devoted to this issue.

·         The Topeka District Council on Ministries sponsored a forum in 1999:  “Neighbors in Conversation: Indian Casinos—Dilemma or Opportunity?  The forum was video-taped by the Kansas East Conference.  Larry Fry has the printed materials that were provided at that conference.  They are available upon request.

 

Open Door 

·         Re-evaluate your own gambling.  Sending money to your family is a better bet.

·         Encourage your church and family members to stop gambling.

·         Educate yourself and your church about gambling and its consequences.

·         Write an editorial in the newspaper expressing your views.

·         Contact your legislators and ask them to vote against gambling initiatives.

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