At the recent annual meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) in Dallas, the attendees failed to pass a motion to prohibit member churches from having women pastors. The motion, which needed a two-thirds majority to pass, received 3,421 votes in favor and 2,191 votes against. However, other resolutions did pass that go beyond an intra-denominational issue.
A collective resolution passed that urged Christians to “celebrate and embrace marriage and childbearing”; called for the overturning of Obergefell v. Hodges, which legalized same-sex marriage throughout the country; and called for “the complete and permanent defunding of Planned Parenthood,” a leading provider of abortion.
Other resolutions passed that called on the United States Congress and state legislatures to “pass laws banning the manufacture, sale, and distribution of chemical abortion drugs, to enforce the Comstock Act prohibiting the mailing of abortion pills, and to hold accountable pharmaceutical companies and medical providers complicit in these harms” and to “enact comprehensive laws that ban the creation, publication, hosting, and distribution of pornographic content in all media and to provide rigorous enforcement mechanisms—including age-verification and civil liability—in the ultimate effort to eradicate pornography nationwide.”
Still another resolution passed “On the Harmful and Predatory Nature of Sports Betting.” In addition to condemning “sports betting in all its forms,” the resolution calls upon “corporations involved in this industry to cease their exploitative practices” and urges “our leaders at all levels of government to curtail sports betting and to address its disastrous effects through policy and legislation.”
Writing for the Daily Signal, Jacob Ogan, a student at Boyce College and the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, titles his commentary “Southern Baptists Get Sports Betting Right.”
Ogan believes that the SBC gambling resolution “is timely—and necessary” because sports betting “preys disproportionately on young men,” “poses threats not only to churches but to society at large,” “breaks up marriages and families, harming churches, and communities,” and “helps to fuel a dangerous addiction, leading to riskier bets and even greater losses over time.”
I don’t necessarily disagree with these points raised by Mr. Ogan. However, when he says that “it is the government’s role to step in and put an end to this predatory market,” I vehemently disagree, and believe that Southern Baptists get sports betting wrong. (For the record, I am an Independent Baptist.)
As a theological and cultural conservative who rejects the hypocrisy and nanny statism of political conservatism, I would agree with those who say that gambling on sports or at a casino table is an immoral, sinful, wasteful vice with terrible odds that can be addictive and financially ruinous. “The house always wins,” says Ogan, and I certainly agree with him. However, I think that most gamblers realize this and gamble for the thrill and entertainment of it, not because they think that they are going to strike it rich.
The real issue here is not gambling, but whose job it is to warn people about the dangers of gambling and discourage them from gambling.
The Southern Baptist Convention and Ogan believe that it is the role of government to do these things. I believe that it is family, friends, co-workers, mental health professionals, acquaintances, social workers, anti-gambling organizations, religious groups, churches, ministers, and organizations like the Southern Baptist Convention to warn people about the dangers of gambling and discourage them from gambling.
From a libertarian perspective, the issue of sports betting is a simple one. Although sports betting — whether online, at a casino, or in an office pool — may be addictive, financially ruinous, a waste of money, a bad habit, or a vice, it is not the job of government at any level to discourage anyone from betting, prevent anyone from betting, or punish anyone from betting.
In a free society, people have the freedom to do what they will with their own money, even if that means waste it, squander it, or gamble it away.
From a Christian perspective, the issue of sports betting is also a simple one. Although sports betting may be bad, immoral, sinful, evil, wicked, or wasteful, there is no warrant in the Bible for religious people to use the force of government to hinder, restrict, or prohibit people from betting.
Those with moral objections to sports betting or any other form of gambling have the right to try to persuade others not to bet or gamble. What they do not have the right to do is use the force of government to stop people from engaging in activities that they don’t like that do not involve aggressing against the personal or property rights of others.
