Friday, July 17, 2009

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Interesting observation Bishop Neil Ellis, senior pastor at Mount Tabor Full Gospel Baptist Church, made a very interesting and factual observation during his annual state of affairs address at Mt. Tabor on Monday night when he said the Church could not win a referendum to keep gambling illegal for Bahamians and residents unless there is an internal effort within the Christian community to address the gambling habits of church members. Despite the fact that he is one of the most prominent religious leaders in the country, Bishop Ellis is not one of those church leaders who have never missed an opportunity to voice strong opposition to any suggestion that the government should pass legislation to introduce a national lottery. The bishop sort of explained why he has not joined his fellow pastors in their public display of hypocrisy when he was quoted in The Nassau Guardian as saying: "... There are too many gamblers sitting in our churches. And I want to set the record straight that I will not be a part of a public fight dealing with nonbelievers on gambling and lottery unless we have a campaign to clean up in the house because judgment first begins in the house of God." The truth of the matter is that Christian Council President Patrick Paul and the other religious leaders who have been so outspoken in opposing a national lottery would be very surprised to find out what percentage of their respective congregations play numbers on a daily basis or whenever they have a dream about a particular number, which happens to be quite frequently. Although he was right about the church's chances of winning a referendum on gambling, Bishop Ellis, however, was wrong when he suggested that Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham knows this to be the case and "I expect a move any day." "Since the previous FNM government lost the last referendum and the church won, they are anxious to take us back to the polls," Bishop Ellis was quoted as saying. Make no mistake about it, even though he is absolutely certain that he would win a referendum on a national lottery, Prime Minister Ingraham is not likely to propose such an initiative. He has been bitten once before on a controversial issue when he proposed – shortly before the May 2002 general election – what he thought was a popular referendum aimed at giving the foreign spouses of Bahamian women the same rights as the foreign spouses of Bahamian men. Initially, the proposal had the full support of the then Opposition Progressive Liberal Party, but after it became clear that Bahamian women were strongly opposed to what became known as the "Sweetheart Bill," PLP members of the House withdrew their support and came out strongly against it. Political pundits credit this move as being one of the reasons why the PLP won the general election. So even though a vast majority of the members of the House – on both sides of the political divide – are strongly in favor to a national lottery, neither Prime Minister Ingraham or Opposition Leader Perry Christie would come out and lead the fight for legislation to be introduced to make that a reality. To be sure, from a political point of view, Christie can gain a lot of political mileage if he can put some steel in his backbone and come out strongly in support of a lottery, given the overwhelming number of Bahamians who play the lottery regularly. Ingraham, however, has made it clear that it is not a priority of his government but at a national forum late last year he invited "those who are supportive of it to step up and make their positions known and tell the public and I will not be one who stands against you." It is somewhat surprising that the Committee for Gaming Reform, headed by Sidney Strachan, has so far not taken advantage of this marvellous opportunity to wage an all-out campaign to get the government to agree to sponsor a referendum on this issue. By now they could have collected thousands of signatures on petitions in support of their proposed referendum. Although it may not have been his intention to do so, Bishop Ellis has provided the Gaming Reform Committee with another strong incentive to put that campaign into high gear. Clearly, the admission by such a high-ranking member of the religious establishment in this country that the church cannot win a referendum on gambling should convince Sidney Strachan and his Gaming Reform Committee that it is time for them to stop issuing meaningless press releases about the need for gaming reform and become more aggressive in campaigning for such reform by getting a petition drive for a referendum organized post haste. Thursday, June 18, 2009