Dear Paula,

 

I recently read your article in Opportunities for Action, which I came across at the Lincoln meeting house, about the discussion among Quakers of the morality of the National Lottery, and although the deadline date of June 2 is long past, I thought I would send you my thoughts on the subject anyway, since I consider it to be very important.

 

In my view, what is so morally harmful about the Lottery is the obscenely large amounts of money that can be won: several times what the average person will earn in a whole life time.

 

It reinforces acceptance of the age-old belief that some people have the right (simply because they have the money) to take from society without any obligation to make a corresponding contribution. It is a belief that the rich and powerful have always insisted on, and has been the main source of injustice, conflict and mal-social development throughout history, and continues to be so today. It stems from our primitive, more animal than human nature.

 

When Jesus said that it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven, he should have let it stand. Although I suspect that the subsequent qualification about "all things being possible for God" (i.e. with his help the rich can also enter the kingdom of heaven), was added after his death so as not to deter the wealthy from joining or supporting the Jesus sect.

 

The Lottery is also harmful, because dreaming of winning a lot of money (thus solving many of life’s problems for oneself) distracts people from the urgent task of actually creating a sustainable, just and more humane society for us ALL.

 

Otherwise, if someone wants to play the Lottery, I have no objection, provided that if they win a lot of money they do not see it as a licence to take more from society (for themselves, their family and friends) than they fairly deserve, and use most of it to help create a sustainable, just and more humane society.