THE GAMBLING EVIL.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 60, Issue 209, 12 June 1940, Page 7

THE GAMBLING EVIL.

ATTITUDE OF PRESBYTERY. RESOLUTION AT ASHBURTON. The Ashburton Presbytery issued the following resolution yesterday defining its attitude toward gambling:— The last General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church of New Zealand adopted its Public Questions Committee’s report on gambling, and called on all the members and adherents of this church to oppose, and refrain from all forms of gambling. The report drew attention to the great increase of this menace in recent years—it has entered the lives even of some school children. It brings ruin and devastation to many homes. Gambling, in all its forms is the enemy of religion. In it, the mind is set on acquiring, without the individual giving adequate economic return. This encourages a spirit of shiftless dependence on mere chance, and this is clearly a major temptation to various forms of degenerate citizenship. Individual pride in good work, well done is at a minimum. Gambling is economic waste, even apart l'rpm the various irreligious evils that so often follow in its wake.

The practice is a symptom of that restlessness which is an inevitable state of hearts and wills, apart from God’s redeeming grace. Nor does the practise give real relief from the boredom of a mal-adjusted life, as some hope it will. To-day, as always, the gospel calls men and women to other and higher ways to more abundant life. Today, we are supposed to be fighting for a better, i.e. a more Christian world. It is hard to see how this squares with a policy which undermines the moral and religious resources of a people, in order to get the material resources to defeat the enemy.