The United Methodist Board of Church and Society has formed a group to study Indian gaming and tribal sovereignty. The special study group met in Washington, D.C., last week to discuss the church's stance on gaming. The church's law book, adopted in 1936, currently calls gambling a "menace to society." But the church also supports tribal sovereignty. So the group is suggesting changes to the law book that would address both issues. "Gambling and tribal government has become a way of life," Phillis McCarty, a member of the Kiowa Tribe of Oklahoma said, according to the United Methodist News Service. "Without gambling we would be back in the hole we were in 50 years ago. Economic development is the only way to solve this problem." Get the Story:
Group studying gambling, American Indian sovereignty (United Methodist News Service 9/24)