Gambling Is Evil Everywhere
In remarking upon the utterance of a Catholic paper that lotteries are “not essentially evil,” as, for instance, when used in “fairs” for churches, by both Protestants and Catholics, the Independent of September 12 well remarks:— “A lottery is a lottery, whether under the sanction of the church or in entirely worldly hands. The principle is evil, as we contend, and no circumstances can make it right. So far as our observation extends, lotteries are but seldom used in Protestant churches. The sentiment is overwhelmingly against them. Where they are employed the police ought to step in. This is the spirit of the law, and the spirit of the law is the crystallized expression of the public conscience.” True, and a parallel case is that of religious legislation. It also is evil everywhere, whether effected by Protestants or Catholics, whether in the tenth century or the nineteenth. It is evil and only evil.