The (hypocritical) ethics of gambling

18 February 2007

Further to my recent post about supporters of the CofE wanting access to tax money to aid in the preservation of their private club houses, I linked to the CofE’s own web site asset management page. On this page, the anglicans make mention of ‘ethical investment’, and write thusly:

The Church Commissioners do not invest in arms or pornography or in any company whose main business is in gambling, alcohol, tobacco, or newspapers. As shareholders they will exercise voting rights and will sometimes raise concerns directly with companies about their business activities and matters of corporate governance. The Commissioners are guided by the Ethical Investment Advisory Group, which also advises the Church of England Pensions Board and the Central Board of Finance.

My emphasis. The above page also links to the church’s Ethical Investment Advisory Group, which says this:

The EIAG develops and co-ordinates ethical investment policy for the Church of England investing bodies through a process of research and consultation. It offers practical advice in a theological context and seeks to promote high standards of corporate behaviour and the principles of integrity, accountability and transparency in corporate life. The Group aims to provide assurance to the investing bodies and to the wider church of a robust process of developing an appropriate ethical investment policy for the Church of England.

Again, my emphasis.

However, a link to another page (”church care”), courtesy of a comment left of the Labour Humanist’s blog, says this:

THE ETHICAL ASPECT OF APPLYING FOR LOTTERY MONEY

Some parishes may question whether they should have anything to do with the National Lottery. Each parish is free to make its own decision. The policy agreed nationally by the House of Bishops is as follows:

“Throughout the debate on the establishment of the National Lottery, the Church of England, along with other churches, has made known its reservations. We accept freely our own financial responsibility in worship, witness, evangelism and pastoral care, and see no basis on which Lottery money should be used by the Church in these areas.

“However, it is clearly the Government’s intention that the Church’s heritage responsibilities should attract grants from public funds made available through the Lottery.

“Sometimes the Church resists proposed changes in our society, but when the decision is made we have to live with it. In this instance we recognise that the Government has made it clear that the Lottery is the way it will increasingly fund heritage and charitable and other matters.”

And once more, my emphasis.

There is no statutory definition of a lottery but the courts generally consider a lottery to be a distribution of prizes by chance where the persons taking part, or a substantial number of them, make a payment or consideration in return for obtaining their chance of a prize.
The Gambling Commission

My emphasis again. This sure as hell sounds like gambling to me, so I checked and looked “gamble” up in the dictionary:

gamble |ËŒgamb(É™)l| verb [ intrans. ] play games of chance for money; bet : she was fond of gambling on cards and horses. â€¢ [ trans. ] bet (a sum of money) in such a way : he was gambling every penny he had on the spin of a wheel. â€¢ figurative take risky action in the hope of a desired result : [with clause ] the British could only gamble that something would turn up. noun [usu. in sing. ] an act of gambling; an enterprise undertaken or attempted with a risk of loss and a chance of profit or success.

So, while the churches don’t want to invest in gambling, which they see as unethical, they’re happy to take lottery money to fix up their churches, which is set aside for “good causes” from the National Lottery, which is gambling.

Fucking hypocrites.

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