The Tribune

EDITOR, The Tribune.

Kindly permit my five cents on this contentious issue of gambling. The Prime Minister has set a date of December 3, 2012 as the date for the country to vote Yes or No on legalizing Web Shops throughout The Bahamas with certain stipulations. This is an election promise that most of the nation were awaiting anxiously. What has a lot of Bahamians up in arms is how the Bahamas Christian Council suddenly came alive in recent months launching a campaign against gambling in The Bahamas claiming that legalizing the web shops will bring about a serious decay in the moral fiber of this country. To them I say, “Hog wash!”

It seems like the Christian Council doesn’t attack everything that’s wrong in our society, but carefully chooses what it wants to take on. We recently had a conference here in The Bahamas which starred Bishop Eddie Long, a US based minister of the gospel who was accused of having sexual romps with young men, even one who claimed to be a Bahamian. Accusations he took care of by settling out of court.

Bishop Long came in town and held his conference and no one said a word. Not one word. The Christian Council was as quiet as a church mouse. Nothing said as if they agree with what Bishop Long did. Clearly I remember the same silence when Bishop Randy Fraser wantonly had a sexual affair with a 15-year-old girl.

Now all of a sudden gambling is illegal and immoral and if you gamble you are going to spend all your pay cheque on buying numbers and don’t feed your kids, keep sweethearts and marry same sex. If you ask me, the Christian Council is being very hypocritical. It can’t be that they find the actions of Long and Fraser acceptable. I would hate to think so. To its members I say, half of the money in your collection plates each Sunday is derived from numbers. This is your reality. What if that is dried up? Would you still lead campaigns then? Why don’t you take these same campaign efforts and put together a massive nation-wide campaign to feed the poor of this nation instead of trying to block something that is going to mess with your church’s earnings and at the same time pause something that has been going on for years and will no doubt not stop any time soon? Think of these things.

JOHN BETHEL

Nassau,

November 8, 2012.