The fight against Gambling

We have a corps in a town called Bauska and on Thursday 16th March 2006 at 14:00 there will be a hearing about the licencing of a gambling establishment in the same building as the corps. Obviously we have great concerns regarding this as all to often it is The Salvation Army who help families pick up the pieces caused by the addictive nature of gambling.

In our letter of complaint we have highlighted the nature of gambling and the fact that it affects most those who are least able to afford it.

However, we do appear to have the law on our side. According to Latvian Law:

“Arrangement of gambling is prohibited in:…. churches and cult buildings"

Now there are two slight problems with this as the building has 2 entrances on two different streets so the authorities might take a liberal understanding of the law. Also corruption is still a problem in this country and there is always the small possibility that people with interests in ensuring its establishment will have undue influence on the proceedings.

So I would ask those of you reading this to start praying against this application. For those of you on the other side of the Atlantic we are 7 hours ahead of Eastern Standard Time.

Can I ask you to add a comment if you are going to pray about this subject so that I can pass on your encouragement to the Corps Officer in Bauska!