Comments on: Intersections of Religion and Governance http://www.concurringopinions.com/archives/2008/10/intersections_o.html The Law, the Universe, and Everything Tue, 14 Feb 2012 11:44:40 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 By: Patrick S. O'Donnell http://www.concurringopinions.com/archives/2008/10/intersections_o.html/comment-page-1#comment-46811 Patrick S. O'Donnell Sat, 11 Oct 2008 23:07:52 +0000 http://www.solove.org/archives/2008/10/intersections-of-religion-and-governance.html#comment-46811 I'm absolutely ignorant about prediction markets, but I suspect the Christian ambivalence with regard to gambling is related to its possible conceptualization as either a vice or sickness (sometimes: 'addiction' or 'disease'), with more traditional denominations seeing this as a vice, and those more conversant in and comfortable with the Christian "gospel of wealth" rhetoric of late-twentieth century post-modernity willing to see extreme forms of gambling as a sickness. An illustrative crystallization of this ambivalence might be evidenced in the story of William Bennett. "[For] years [Bennett] had called for a higher moral tone in American life and who had served as Secretary of Education, chair of the National Endowment of the Humanities, and America's first 'drug czar' in the war on drugs," yet was reported to have lost $8 million in gambling over a ten year period, with much of his gambling money coming from his best-selling book, The Book of Virtues: A Treasury of Great Moral Stories (1993)! As Mike W. Martin notes in a wonderful discussion of "pathological gambling" (From Morality to Mental Health: Virtue and Vice in a Therapeutic Culture, 2006)," "Traditionally, gambling that causes significant harm to oneself and others was a moral matter; today, 'pathological gambling' is a mental disorder." Martin, unlike most on either side of this conceptual divide, argues for an integrated moral-therapeutic perspective that makes sense of both approaches. Some Christians chose to distance themselves from Bennett, while others were more sympathetic to his plight with this particular addiction, even those members of conservative evangelical organizations that opposed gambling. Incidentally, I can't recommend Abdullahi Ahmed An-Na'im's latest book highly enough: Islam and the Secular State: Negotiating the Future of Shari'a (2008), a link to which is at his website above. I’m absolutely ignorant about prediction markets, but I suspect the Christian ambivalence with regard to gambling is related to its possible conceptualization as either a vice or sickness (sometimes: ‘addiction’ or ‘disease’), with more traditional denominations seeing this as a vice, and those more conversant in and comfortable with the Christian “gospel of wealth” rhetoric of late-twentieth century post-modernity willing to see extreme forms of gambling as a sickness. An illustrative crystallization of this ambivalence might be evidenced in the story of William Bennett. “[For] years [Bennett] had called for a higher moral tone in American life and who had served as Secretary of Education, chair of the National Endowment of the Humanities, and America’s first ‘drug czar’ in the war on drugs,” yet was reported to have lost $8 million in gambling over a ten year period, with much of his gambling money coming from his best-selling book, The Book of Virtues: A Treasury of Great Moral Stories (1993)! As Mike W. Martin notes in a wonderful discussion of “pathological gambling” (From Morality to Mental Health: Virtue and Vice in a Therapeutic Culture, 2006),” “Traditionally, gambling that causes significant harm to oneself and others was a moral matter; today, ‘pathological gambling’ is a mental disorder.” Martin, unlike most on either side of this conceptual divide, argues for an integrated moral-therapeutic perspective that makes sense of both approaches. Some Christians chose to distance themselves from Bennett, while others were more sympathetic to his plight with this particular addiction, even those members of conservative evangelical organizations that opposed gambling.

Incidentally, I can’t recommend Abdullahi Ahmed An-Na’im’s latest book highly enough: Islam and the Secular State: Negotiating the Future of Shari’a (2008), a link to which is at his website above.

]]> By: Miriam Cherry http://www.concurringopinions.com/archives/2008/10/intersections_o.html/comment-page-1#comment-46810 Miriam Cherry Sat, 11 Oct 2008 20:27:27 +0000 http://www.solove.org/archives/2008/10/intersections-of-religion-and-governance.html#comment-46810 This is fascinating! My last article dealt with the recent internet gambling crackdown and its intersection with a particular interest of mine, prediction markets. I was interested to see the role that religion/morality played in the anti-gambling measures. It's not an easy link - some christian denominations do not care about gambling, others do (vehemently). I didn't have room in that piece to examine that link fully, but it's something I may choose to examine (at a later time). Thanks for posting this and I will check out the conference link later in the week. This is fascinating! My last article dealt with the recent internet gambling crackdown and its intersection with a particular interest of mine, prediction markets. I was interested to see the role that religion/morality played in the anti-gambling measures. It’s not an easy link – some christian denominations do not care about gambling, others do (vehemently). I didn’t have room in that piece to examine that link fully, but it’s something I may choose to examine (at a later time).

Thanks for posting this and I will check out the conference link later in the week.

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