THE LOCAL Salvation Army would have done like its Florida counterpart did recently and turned down donations obviously associated with gambling, Lieutenant Colonel Clinton Burrowes, Divisional Commander for the Salvation Army in Eastern Jamaica, said.
He said that regular acceptance of donations was conditional and rooted in personal belief.
"Worldwide, the Salvation Army has a principle against gambling," Lt. Col. Burrowes said. "But the money is not sinful. It's people that are sinful. It's different if they admit that the money was gained through gambling, but otherwise we don't judge."
The Associated Press reported on Tuesday that the Salvation Army in Marco Island, Florida, turned down a US$100,000 donation from a Florida Lotto winner because its local leader didn't want to take money associated with gambling.
David L. Rush, 71, who won US$14.3 million, held one of the four winning tickets in the $100-million Florida Lotto jackpot. Major Cleo Damon, head of the Salvation Army office there, told Rush he could not take his money and returned the cheque which another official had accepted.
Lt. Col Burrowes said that theologically, there might be a point in the refusal, and that the local Salvation Army headquarters has refused money on such a ground in the past. But he maintains that "money can't commit sin."
And even though gambling continues to lure thousands of persons in Jamaica, church leaders still oppose the practice and have labelled gambling money "dirty".
"We (Bible churches) don't solicit funds outside of the fellowship of the church and I don't see any Christian playing that game," the Rev. Wilber Smith, of the Mountain View Bible Church, said. "As far as we are concerned, there is a stark difference between people living for God and others. It is two different worlds. Christians shouldn't gamble, so it is unlikely (that money from that source would filter through the church)."
He said that though he was convinced that some churches would have accepted such donations, it was "terribly hypocritical" to condemn it (gambling) in one breath and accept the proceeds in another. A case in point, he mentioned, was the many church bingo parties that he classifies as gambling.
"I don't see how the church can moralise on this (gambling) when it has nothing to do with Christianity," he said. "You can't impose your Christian beliefs on people. I'm not for gambling, but it is so rife in Jamaica, I've seen it in all areas. It's a 24-hour operation and the spin-offs are tremendous, but the church and gambling are at two different ends of the scale."
In a previous interview, the Rev. Peter Kirby, pastor of the St. Andrew Lutheran Church, said the church tried to let the Bible speak to gambling. "The Bible does not specifically speak against gambling," he said. "However, it can be construed that it is not the wisest use for money; we do not openly chastise people for gambling but we do not encourage it."
In a recent article, the Rev. Al Miller, pastor of the Fellowship Tabernacle, argued: "We cannot build the prosperity of a nation on gambling/games of chance. Wealth-creation must come from productivity if it is to be sustained and have God's blessing. The church, in many quarters, is equally hypocritical, but must maintain a principled stance that the wisdom of God is for success and prosperity to come from honest work and not by games of chance."
