Gambling in the Churches
"Gambling is not creeping into the churches, 'it's there.' This Chicago Tribune verdict is based on the investigation of Dr. Frederick G. Deis, Episcopal archdeacon of that city, who personally wrote to fifty local rectors, asking them for their stand on games of chance within the church. Twenty-one of the fifty admitted that 'they favored a bit of gambling for the sake of zest and income at church affairs.' Four were noncommittal; the remainder disapproved. Roman Catholics, in spite of frequent pronunciations to the contrary, are even more enthusiastic. Not long ago the Milwaukee Journal printed a statement by the Rev. Fr. H. A. Velte, pastor of St. Boniface Catholic Church in that city. Father Velte declared: 'Gambling in itself is not a sin. . . . When you or I play cards or indulge in a game of golf, and, in order to add zest to the game, play for small stakes, we are doing no one a wrong, provided we can spare the money. Just as much as I am entitled to spend my surplus money on travel, music, or any form of legitimate amusement, just so much am I allowed to spend in a game of chance.' In harmony with this attitude, an orgy of gambling has marked the money-raising efforts of Catholic churches in many sections of the country. Cities like Detroit, Chicago, Cleveland, Milwaukee, St. Louis, witness feverish Catholic church raffles for automobiles and other high stakes."
Then, listing the reasons why gambling, especially in the churches, is wrong, the editor makes this observation:
"Churches that conduct games of chance, fortune, lot drawings, and which finance themselves by the cast of the dice and the whirl of the wheels, always lose in the end. This procedure is definitely against the Scriptural program of stewardship which requires that the gifts for the kingdom flow from the heart, not from gambling tables—from the consecrated devotion of Christians, not from worldly schemes of gambling and money raising. It can be demonstrated, we believe, that games of chance always help to deaden the individual's sense of responsibility toward the church's work. Congregations that thrive on gaming devices will, we feel, if investigated, always record low per capita contributions to the kingdom."
The Episcopal Church, seriously affected by the problem, terms it a "cancerous invasion.
Bishop Stewart of Chicago, in an open letter to the clergy of his diocese, appearing in the Living Church (February 23, 1938) says:
"Slot machines, handbooks, roulette wheels, bingo games, lotteries, and 'chances' litter the landscape. And the worst of it is even the church, even our church, has been infected with the disease. We must unite to stop it and to stop it now. The church must hold up a standard higher than the standard of the world. When it permits gambling under its patronage or for its benefit, it is lowering its standard, not to the level of the world, but to the still lower level of the underworld. How can we hope to win our youth to a life above the debaucheries of the tavern and the pool hall if our own hands are not clean ?"
The American Lutheran (March, 1938) is outspoken in its condemnation of the situation, particularly on the extent of the "Bingo craze" in the various churches. In earnest protest, the editorial closes with these strong words:
"Churches are bringing the fair name of Christ into disrepute when they aid and abet in the maintenance of an evil which even the state finds itself compelled to curb and when they seek—and often get—immunity from the penalty of the civil law because the proceeds of their gambling institutions go to a 'worthy cause.' We venture to utter a word of warning against the bingo craze, since there is no deterrent for its entry into churches that have become accustomed to bleed the local merchants in behalf of their annual bazaars, that conduct elaborate raffles, and find their bridge parties a fruitful source of revenue. . . . A church that must resort to gambling in order to exist deserves to die. When an institution that claims to be the champion of righteousness stoops to unrighteousness in order to eke out an existence, it forfeits its influence and its very right of existence. Worst of all, it makes itself inaccessible to God's blessing and to the approaches of the Spirit of God. May our own churches purge themselves of all unworthy money-making schemes and foster the spirit of Christian stewardship which alone can furnish a healthy basis for a church's financial life."
We close with a detailed statement from the Literary Digest as quoted in the same issue of the American Lutheran:
"A sign in front of a New York church reads : 'Bingo every Thursday night in the Holy Spirit room.' On a rural Arkansas church a poster proclaims : 'Bingo party every week—Everybody welcome,' Encircled in neon lights, another outside a Chicago suburban church announces: 'Don't miss bingo Friday. Handsome prizes.' Attracted by such extraspiritual heralds, thousands of Americans sit down in church weekly to try their luck in this national craze. In some localities, the Tuesday or Thursday game at the corner church house overshadows all other events. A survey made by the Literary Digest shows that the playing of bingo is spreading rapidly throughout the United States. Neighborhood merchants have begun to complain of competition. Movie exhibitors are protesting. Some church leaders take a definite stand against the game.
'Last week religious editors and others admitted freely that discussion of the moral issue had reached controversial proportions. Philip Yarrow, chairman of the civic relations commission of the Chicago Church Federation, expresses this opinion to the Literary Digest : 'The commission has repeatedly pleaded with churches to stop petty gambling as a means of raising money. Churches a few years ago would have been horrified at the mere suggestion of such methods as playing bunco, beano, or bingo, and raffling quilts or other articles. The argument of some church officials is that, if wealthy churches can raise money by bridge, why should not the smaller ones play beano? We say the kingdom of God cannot be established by shooting craps.'"
Century's Gloomy Retrospect
"Another year closes with mankind living under a sense of impending catastrophe. Almost it has seemed, at more than one tense hour during 1938, that the catastrophe was at last at hand. And even now, although the record of the old year is completed amid comparative peace, at least for the greater part of the Western world, men greet the new year without assurance or hope. They live as under doom, though reprieved for a brief hour. The fingers of those who still labor to avert tragedy fumble at the task because of the very desperation which drives them. What is still more sinister, in large portions of the earth masses of men have resigned themselves to coming destruction. They no longer ask, Will this horror be loosed upon us? For them the single question has become, How soon ? In accordance with our annual custom, we look back over the year to remind ourselves how this sense of gathering and inescapable crisis has been engendered."
Next comes a candid review of the situation in Europe and the Far East, which is followed by these words:
"No nation trusts another a step beyond the point at which the most immediate and selfish interests of that other are involved. Treaties—all treaties—are regarded as scraps of paper, binding only so long as it is to the self-interest of the signer that they shall be binding. Men like Secretary Hull lecture the nations on the necessity for a return of confidence in their mutual dealings, but confidence cannot be evoked out of thin air. Once destroyed, it can be restored only by the slow work of generations. And so far the work of restoration has not even begun. In a world from which good faith between nations has all but vanished, the life of such an institution as the League of Nations has almost ebbed away. Manipulated from its birth as an instrument of European power politics, the league has almost ceased even to go through the form of reminding its members of their obligations. What small nation, no matter how just its cause, would longer trouble to invoke Article X of the covenant after the lesson of Munich? The white palace of peace built on the shore of Lake Geneva has become a mausoleum. . . .
"What hope is there that this process of moral dissolution may be checked, that the nations may be turned from their plunge into a new Dark Age? Alas, the hope is none too great. But this much, at least, came to light in the revealing hours of the year's September crisis: the common people of Europe, without regard to nationality, have no stomach for war. If they march to another slaughter, it will be with leaden feet. Even the most bellicose of their leaders cannot be sure how long their will to suffer can be sustained, or how soon it may change into a will to revolt. And the most enlightened of their leaders see nothing beyond another war but chaos, no matter what the outcome on the battlefield."
After the domestic scene in America has been dwelt upon, the religious situation is finally reviewed. Cognizance is taken of the "growing sense of the tension between the church and the world," and then the Roman Catholic situation is treated thus:
"As Protestantism has begun to move toward unity, the Roman Catholic Church appears to have entered on a new period of perplexity and confusion. The Roman Church is seen at its best when resisting the pretensions of state control, as in Germany. But it is seen at its worst when trying to accommodate itself to the devious and cynical purposes of Fascism, as in Ethiopia and Spain. The difficulty in which the Papacy finds itself by virtue of its geographical location is obvious ; it is a difficulty which is likely to be enhanced with the election of a new pope. Meanwhile, however, the Roman Church tries in Europe to live hand in glove with Mussolini and Franco, while in America it declares its devotion to the spread of democracy. It is no wonder that Americans within the Catholic fold find themselves confused by the apparent discrepancy between the European and American policies of their church, or that a new lack of confidence in all Catholic political action is growing rapidly among Americans of other faiths."
The discussion ends as it began—gloomily : "Men entered 1938 with dread. They will enter 1939 with even more dread."
