{"id":4486,"date":"2011-12-16T09:05:02","date_gmt":"2011-12-16T15:05:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tonyjones\/?p=4486"},"modified":"2015-03-13T16:54:54","modified_gmt":"2015-03-13T21:54:54","slug":"im-against-gambling","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tonyjones\/2011\/12\/16\/im-against-gambling\/","title":{"rendered":"I’m Against Gambling"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

<\/p>\n

It may come as a surprise to some readers who think me a libertine, that I think gambling is bad for society, and I oppose it. \u00a0I especially oppose it as a state-sanctioned fundraiser.<\/p>\n

Here in Minnesota, our last governor<\/a> was a nice, conservative evangelical, who consistently pitched more casinos as an answer to our state\u2019s budget woes. \u00a0Thankfully, his ideas never took.<\/p>\n

Now all the buzz around here is about the Vikings threatening to leave the state if we don\u2019t build them a new stadium. \u00a0The stupidity of this debate leaves me speechless. \u00a0Especially when the leading idea to pay the state\u2019s share is to move gambling off of Indian reservations and into downtown Minneapolis.<\/p>\n

In a rare cooperative effort, both liberal and conservative Christians in Minnesota are working against this idea<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\n
\n

Brian Rusche, Joint Religious Legislative Council executive director, testified recently before two state Senate committees, telling lawmakers that significant social costs come with gambling, including addiction, family violence, divorce as well as police and court expenses. He told me later that gambling \u201cutterly preys on desperation.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n
Tom Prichard, president of the\u00a0Minnesota Family Council and who also testified at the Capitol hearing, agrees. \u201cThere\u2019s a spill-over effect. It breaks up families, causes crime and divorce,\u201d he said<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n

If Vegas wants to thrive on this blight, so be it. \u00a0But any increase in gambling will erode the good life in Minnesota<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It may come as a surprise to some readers who think me a libertine, that I think gambling is bad for society, and I oppose it. \u00a0I especially oppose it as a state-sanctioned fundraiser. Here in Minnesota, our last governor was a nice, conservative evangelical, who consistently pitched more casinos as an answer to our […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4487,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22,27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4486","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-minnesota","category-politics"],"yoast_head":"\nI'm Against Gambling<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"It may come as a surprise to some readers who think me a libertine, that I think gambling is bad for society, and I oppose it. \u00a0I especially oppose it as\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tonyjones\/2011\/12\/16\/im-against-gambling\/\" \/>\n<meta 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