Saturday, December 12, 1998

What would your church do with lottery winnings?

By Michael O'Connor / Abilene Reporter-News

You're a church leader with decision-making responsibility. Long ago, when Texas first began considering lotteries, your church was part of the coalition that took a stand against any form of gambling in the state. Leaflets were distributed in church; sermons were preached; members were called and reminded to vote.

Now, years after those efforts failed, a member of your church buys a lottery ticket on a whim and hits the jackpot. Millions of dollars are his, and he wants to give half to the church. He's always been a faithful, but not well-to-do, giver and believes this is a way he can finally make a real contribution to the life of the church. And the tax advantages haven't escaped his notice either.

The size of the contribution is considerable -- more than twice the largest budget your church has ever tried to raise. You could fund your budget for the next 25 years, create a trust fund, maybe build some needed facilities. You could donate to missions. You could make an impact for the kingdom of God.

But one of the other leaders insists the church should not accept the money. If the spent so much time lobbying against it, it would be hypocritical to benefit from lottery money.

What will you do?

Some churches, actually quite a few, in Canada have decided they will not accept lottery money. The situation is a bit different. The government gives a portion of lottery earnings to nonprofit organizations.

But churches up north worked diligently to defeat the lottery, and even though they would benefit from the funds, they are telling the government, "No thanks."

Of course telling the government no is much easier than telling a church member the same thing. But the issue remains the same.

I know plenty of people who lobbied and voted against lotteries. Most of them play the lottery in one of its forms.

"I only play occasionally," they say. "It's a harmless form of entertainment."

And if they were to win big?

"I have no problem using the devil's money to do God's work."

The Canadian churches' refusal to accept lottery funds should make us pause. How many things do we do that don't quite measure up to the faith we proclaim?

You know, the little lies we tell to keep ourselves out of trouble. The off-color jokes that don't quite cross the line into being really dirty. Suing a company over a trivial incident that was really our fault because, after all, the company has deep pockets. Fudging on an expense account or our taxes.

Our tendency in any of those things is to justify ourselves when confronted by others who won't participate. They're just being self-righteous, holier than thou. They need to lighten up. Where's the harm?

Have the Canadians done the right thing? Or are they making much ado about nothing? What would you do?

Michael O'Connor is news editor for the Abilene Reporter-News and is a former United Methodist pastor. Reach him at Box 30, Abilene, TX, 79604, or oconnorm@abinews.com