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September 22, 2006

Church group: Hope comes from God, not jackpots / Photo

Journal photo / Frieda Squires
From left, Marie Bouvier-Newman, president of the Rhode Island State Council of Churches; Nancy Bancroft, South Kingstown, president of American Baptist Church of Rhode Island, and Rev. Matthew Kai, pastor, Tabernacle Baptist Church West Side, Providence, and vice president of RISCC, spoke at the press conference at Prospect Park. A statue of Rhode Island founder Roger Williams is at the rear.

PROVIDENCE -- The Rhode Island State Council of Churches signed on this morning as the newest member of Save Our State, the coalition opposing the Harrah's-Narragansett Indian casino proposal.

"We have not come to make a political statement, but rather, a theological statement," said the Rev. Donald Anderson, pastor of the First Baptist Church-East Greenwich and vice president of the council of churches. "In the tradition of the prophets of old, we have come to speak a word from God against great evils of our day."

As the backdrop to the press conference, the council of churches chose Prospect Park, in front of a giant statue of Roger Williams, who founded the city after being banished from Massachusetts due to his religious tenets.

The location wasn't coincidental. Those who spoke noted the city's name, and the presence of the word "hope" on the state seal and flag. People should rest secure in hope and providence that come from God, not from the possibility of taking home a jackpot, they said.

"Greed, which motivates gambling, is strongly condemned by biblical ethics as contrary to trusting God for our daily bread," Marie Bouvier-Newman, president of the council of churches, said. "For too many of our fellow citizens, the ever-so-slim possibility of sudden material gain becomes the primary plan for their lives, and their best hope, they think, for the future."

The council of churches is an ecumenical body representing 11 Protestant denominations, 4 affiliated church organizations and 8 Orthodox denominations and congregations.

-- Journal staff writer Elizabeth Gudrais

Posted by Steve Peoples  at 2:59 PM | Permalink

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