Republican presidential nominee, Arizona Senator John McCain, October 3, 2008 upon arrival in Flagstaff, Arizona. AFP/Getty Images

Last Sunday the New York Times ran a monster front-page story about Sen. John McCain’s gambling ties.

The story largely ignores the religious implications of McCain’s interest in gambling, but I figured paragraphs like these would get the attention of some Christians, most notably, Southern Baptists, who oppose gambling and have lobbied against its seeming ubiquity in today’s America:

As a two-time chairman of the Indian Affairs Committee, Mr. McCain has done more than any other member of Congress to shape the laws governing America’s casinos, helping to transform the once-sleepy Indian gambling business into a $26-billion-a-year behemoth with 423 casinos across the country. He has won praise as a champion of economic development and self-governance on reservations.

“One of the founding fathers of Indian gaming” is what Steven Light, a University of North Dakota professor and a leading Indian gambling expert, called Mr. McCain.

The Southern Baptist Convention has fought against gambling since the 19th century. A denominational resolution from May of 1890 says,

Believing that gambling in all its forms is demoralizing to our people, and that the Louisiana Lottery is an evil of great magnitude, and having learned that the charter of the iniquitous concern will soon expire unless renewed; therefore,

RESOLVED, That we extend our hearty sympathy to the good people of Louisiana in their struggle to rid themselves of this great curse by preventing its renewal, and that we bid them God speed and pledge them the moral sanction of this Convention.

The Mirage Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. Photo courtesy of the Mirage Hotel and Casino.

The most recent SBC gambling resolution, from 1997, said “the tidal wave of gambling in our country has left in its wake pain and destruction in the lives of countless people,” and it resolved to “urge our political leaders to enact laws restricting and eventually eliminating all forms of gambling and its advertisement.”

After I read the story, I checked in with the Rev. David Tolliver, the acting executive director of the Missouri Baptist Convention, to see what he’d heard from his fellow Missouri Baptists about McCain’s gambling ties. Dr. Tolliver and I e-mailed back and forth a few times this week. He said he hadn’t heard anything about McCain’s gambling and had not heard anything from Missouri Baptists about it, either.

I’d sent Dr. Tolliver the link to the Times story and asked him if, now that he’d read the story, if he was concerned about McCain’s gambling ties. He responded:
(All elipses in Dr. Tolliver’s e-mail responses are his, not added by me.)

As I said, I don’t know anything about McCain’s gambling ties….and I am certainly not going to swallow a NYTimes story “hook, line, and sinker”. If McCain is a gambler, he shouldn’t be…if he has a gambling problem, he should get help—but you don’t want to get me started on all the things that Obama shouldn’t be….and all the areas of his life where I think he needs help.

I pointed out that the story suggested, not just that McCain likes to gamble, but that he had helped build the U.S. gambling industry into a multi-billion dollar business. I said I’d been surprised by this part of McCain’s legistlative efforts - something I knew nothing about until I’d read the story. I asked if such revelations a month before the election would anger Southern Baptists. Dr. Tolliver replied:

No, I am not saying that it doesn’t bother (and anger some) Southern Baptists. I am simply saying that many Southern Baptists are not aware of it. Just as you were somewhat surprised to hear of it…most of us have not yet heard of it. As usual, a presidential race will come down to the better of two candidates, rather than finding the one candidate that fulfills all our hopes and dreams. I am also not happy with McCain because of his position on embryonic stem cell research…but I would hardly help my cause by voting against him when Obama (a totally pro-abortion candidate) is the other option.

Dr. Tolliver reminded me of a conversation we’d had during the primary season when he told me he was a Huckabee guy. Even Huckabee, he said, has disappointed him with some of his post-primary comments. Now, it seems Dr. Tolliver - like many conservative Christians - was facing a lesser-of-two-evils choice for the presidency next month.

“John McCain is not the perfect candidate…and I am disappointed by his gambling escapades…and the gambling efforts that he has apparently spearheaded,” Dr. Tolliver wrote. “But, at this point (and, of course this could change)…but, right now he has my vote.”