United Church to reconsider casino, lottery revenues

Hundreds of delegates from the United Church of Canada's London Conference, meeting this weekend at the Best Western on Great Northern Road, have agreed to ask the Church's highest court to reconsider a 25-year-old policy against accepting gaming industry funds for charitable work.

The London Conference, representing congregations across Algoma and Southwestern Ontario, passed two resolutions calling on the 38th General Council to "withdraw or substantially modify" a 1977 directive discouraging "formally constituted groups of the United Church" from applying for lottery funds and other gambling-related revenue.

Church camps, retreats

One resolution points out that the cost of operating church camps and retreats has risen significantly over the past five years and the United Church is unable to meet all of the needs.

"Different levels of government offer significant funding for much of the work done by church camps," the resolution states.

"The bulk of government money available to do this work comes from the 'gaming industry.'"

The resolution points out that the 25-year-old church policy has not discouraged governments from expanding the gaming industry.

"This policy will in fact cause hardship for countless children, youth and young adults as camp facilities now begin to deteriorate and money for repairing and upgrading facilities is not available from the traditional sources."

Persons with disabilities

The second resolution passed by London Conference uses almost-identical wording to argue that congregations and church groups should also be allowed to apply for government accesibility funds, which are also largely derived from gaming.

These monies are needed to ensure that church facilities are both safe and open to all people, the resolution said.

The 38th General Council is expected to deal with the gaming-revenue issue when it meets August 10 to 16 at Acadia University in Wolfville, Nova Scotia.

Other decisions from London Conference

The London Conference, taking place until Sunday at the Best Western, also voted to petition General Council to:

- ask both the federal and Ontario governments to increase the minimum wage to at least $10 an hour, and give support to small businesses implementing the increase

- express support to the Government of Canada for its decision not to join the U.S. invasion of Iraq

- encourage the federal government to continue to pursue non-violent solutions to world issues

- encourage all congregations to, where possible, enter into dialogue with local Muslim communities

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