WHEREAS, Gambling is an immoral effort that creates deliberate risks not inherent in or necessary to the functioning of society; and
WHEREAS, Aggressive actions by the gambling interests in recent months make abundantly clear their intention of seeking to expand legalized gambling throughout the nation and especially in the states of the South and the Southwest; and
WHEREAS, Out-of-state corporations and businesses are investing millions of dollars in a bold effort to change state laws to allow casinos, lotteries, and pari-mutuel gambling; and
WHEREAS, Legislators of many states have shown shameful willingness to give shoddy and inadequate consideration to gambling legislation, to pass legislation out of committees without public hearings, and to schedule votes on gambling legislation in a manner carefully contrived to be beneficial to passage of the gambling legislation.
Be it therefore RESOLVED, That we, the messengers of the Southern Baptist Convention assembled in Kansas City, June 12-14, 1984, encourage Southern Baptists to work diligently with other Christians and other responsible citizens who oppose the spread of legalized gambling; and
Be it further RESOLVED, That we encourage the churches and the state conventions cooperating with the Southern Baptist Convention to engage in vigorous programs of education for adults, teenagers, and children about the moral tragedies wrought by legalized gambling; and
Be it further RESOLVED, That we express our prayerful support and strong encouragement for those who are providing courageous leadership in vigorously opposing the legalization of gambling both in the states where votes are scheduled and at the national level where pressure is building in support of legalized gambling.
Be it finally RESOLVED, That we express our grave concern that gambling interests have unscrupulously twisted the decision of the 1983 Southern Baptist Convention to meet in Las Vegas, Nevada in 1989 to imply that Southern Baptists are compromising their opposition to gambling, and that we declare to gambling interests and to the world that our purpose for meeting in Las Vegas in an expression of our mission to give support to Baptist work and to share Christ with the people of that area; and that we affirm our opposition to gambling regardless of any choice of site for a Convention meeting.