[PW] Christian Science and lotteries

[nona yates]

   a fun way to give inexpensive and unique gifts is to donate to a charitable organization like Heifer International in the person's name. Heifer will send out a very nice gift card that explains their work that you can give to the person. You can "buy" a flock of chicks ($20) or "buy" a share of a sheep, for example. I'll then give my friend a small stuffed version of whatever animal I've "bought" for them... a cuddly little sheep or a fuzzy little chick and will print out the page with the photo of the little boy gleefully holding his own chicken, for example, wrap it imaginatively and it's usually a big hit. 
   there are numerous organizations you can do this with... local foodbanks (tuck the donor's card in a small food gift); museum memberships (buy something from the museum's gift shop and tuck the card inside); Oxfam America, through their Oxfam Unwrapped program (give a coffee mug with a small bag of coffee for a donation for fair trade coffee). 
    you can spend as little as $10 or more than $1000 for these things and add some light to the world at the same time. 
Cheers all... 

-----Original Message-----
From: project-wombat-bounces at lists.project-wombat.org
[mailto:project-wombat-bounces at lists.project-wombat.org]On Behalf Of
Nina Gilbert
Sent: Saturday, December 01, 2007 8:56 AM
To: list at project-wombat.org
Subject: [PW] Christian Science and lotteries



Another seasonal stumper!

Short version:  Would a Christian Scientist appreciate a lottery ticket?

Background:  Our office is playing Secret Santa as part of our holiday festivities.  We've drawn names, and over the next two weeks, we're supposed to surprise our person with little presents, poems, etc.  A colleague tells me that lottery tickets are popular Secret-Santa gifts -- a fun way to give multiple gifts and stay under our $15 limit. 

My person is a Christian Scientist.  My question:  Does Christian Science accept lottery tickets?

I realize this could be an individual question, but we're supposed to keep this secret from everyone else around the office.  I can't even ask indirectly, because most of our colleagues don't know she's a Christian Scientist (so the question would be a clue about who her Santa is).

I've found anti-lottery articles in the CS Monitor and CS Journal, but they don't say that lotteries are actually forbidden.  

Example:
http://www.csjournal.com/tte/article_display.jhtml?ElementId=/repositories/shcomarticle/Jun2005/1118066545.xml&ElementName=What%20a%20horse%20taught%20me%20about%20charity

TinyURL version of that long link:
http://tiny.cc/Lottery


Quote from that article:

So on the night of the raffle, I called my uncle, who practiced spiritual healing, and confessed I had a ticket. He pretty firmly told me to “just forget it” because he understood that no real good comes by chance—that God is the source of good. Divine law provides and cares for all without partiality or exception. 


I Googled to see if any CS churches were holding raffles.  I understand that the actual Mother Church is in my town (Boston!), so I may try calling them.

I would love an answer, a clue, or suggestions for other Secret Santa gifts.

Thank you,

Nina Gilbert
Education and Community Programs Manager, Boston Lyric Opera


------------------------------------------------
Nina Gilbert
ninagilbert at yahoo.com


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