Reid

Sunday racing/gambling is here in Jamaica and the Church can do nothing to stop it. This is the proud boast of the principalities and powers that triumphantly trample on the sensibilities, the culture and the values that have hitherto defined our nation.

The Church could not stop the lottery, the casino, the proliferation of so-called gambling parlours. But then, who could stop these things? Not even the Government could if it wanted to. Now we know who really wields power in Jamaica. Not the elected government, but the people who control money and who, in pursuit of material wealth, will crush anyone who dares to resist.

Jamaica is not a poor country. It is a very wealthy country in which the vast majority are poor. As our prime minister said some time ago "we are too rich to be so poor" and the gambling industry is one of the most effective means of transferring money from the poor to the rich. It is a cynical manipulation of the desperation of the poor who are conned into risking the little that they have in the hope of winning big. Those big jackpots are the accumulation of all the little amounts that are contributed mainly by poor people, sometimes at the price of their children's dinner or school expenses. "One, one coco full basket" for real. But the problem is - to whom does the basket belong?

humanly unattainable ideal

So the Church is accused of hypocrisy, which may be true, since we aspire to a humanly unattainable ideal. However, in this case, the real hypocrisy is the pretence to have an open and democratic society in which all views contend while, at the same time, seeking to silence the Church and any other person with a contrary view. One of these potentates declares that the Church has "overstepped its bounds by objecting to the extension of gambling in this way". The clear implication is that the speaker and the powers that he represents have the authority to decide the scope and boundaries of the Church's sphere of activity.

Added to this is the blatant hypocrisy of those who invest so much money and energy into the campaign to persuade people to "take a chance" while they themselves are taking no chance with their bottom line by organising to guarantee their own profits. Talk about "do as I say but not as I do" indeed.

The non-too-subtle anti-church and anti-Christian campaign that has emerged reveals that this is a bigger issue than the question of the day on which it is appropriate to gamble. In my view, gambling is an antisocial and non-productive activity, no matter on which day it occurs. The problem with Sunday racing, therefore, is that it deepens and adds to an already existing situation. It extends something that should rather be curtailed. It is another sign of the contradictions that exist in a country which, in the past, has argued against redistributing existing wealth, for the thesis that, instead, we should promote productive activities that increase wealth. The only difference is the question of who benefits from the redistribution now going on.

principled position maintained

The bullying tactics being used to intimidate opposition will not stop the Christian church as well as other religious groups or persons from maintaining a principled position on this matter. We cannot stop them and neither can they stop us.

The fact is that the deleterious effects of organised gambling have been thoroughly researched and well documented. Is it because they have no answer to this considerable volume of research and reflection that the lobby now descend to the level of innuendo and vulgar abuse directed against the Church?

May God bless and prosper our country with honest and honourable industry and responsible stewardship of His creation.

Rt Rev Alfred C. Reid is Anglican Bishop of Jamaica and the Cayman Islands.