Voters in Maryland are not only electing a president today, but also are considering whether to expand casino gambling, legalize gay marriage and extend in-state college tuition to undocumented immigrants — a clutch of moral issues that has prompted soul searching among the state’s Baptists.
Two of the three initiatives — to approve same-sex marriage and extend in-state tuition — have never been approved by a state at the ballot box. All three ballot measures — among seven on the ticket —have drawn months of fierce debate.
“We hope and pray that on Wednesday morning life becomes a little quieter,” pastor Cameron Edgar told his Arnold, Md., congregation last Sunday. “You may not like the outcome. It may cause more angst. It may be what you want. But we have to be responsible citizens so that no matter what happens we are still Americans and we are still asked to pray for our leaders regardless of party.
Some Baptists in Maryland say they wonder if undocumented workers really are welcome in the state.
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“The best way we can be people of God is to be responsible citizens of the country we all love,” said Edgar, pastor of College Parkway Baptist Church and moderator of the Mid-Atlantic Cooperative Baptist Fellowship.
Connie Stinson, pastor at Luther Rice Memorial Baptist Church in Silver Spring, Md., said Maryland voters are more “exuberant” than those in her native Virginia.
“Is their energy fueled by their ‘blue’ unity? Maybe,” she said. “Whether or not it’s a Democrat thing, there may be a lesson to be learned no matter what side of the aisle the rest of us are on. We can learn something from their openness and candor.
“However they vote, there is a lot of team effort going on in Maryland,” she said. “The voting process and all the discussion that goes on beforehand seems to bring people together in Maryland. I find it inspiring.”
Gary Long, pastor of First Baptist Church in Gaithersburg, Md., said he doesn’t discuss political candidates in the pulpit, “but has tried to encourage our members to participate by voting, and to vote their conscience.”
“In individual conversations I won’t discuss candidates, but will talk about the issues,” he said.
In Baltimore, pastor John Ballenger of Woodbrook Baptist Church said he’s confident his church members’ voting habits are informed by their Christian faith.
“I do trust that our regular Bible study, the stories we tell, the priorities we claim as a people of faith committed to the way of God in Jesus comprise a significant part of the voting of every member of our church community.
But he added, “I believe that we are united more in important aspects of the why we vote for someone than the particulars of who and how.”
Dream Act
Last year, Maryland’s General Assembly approved legislation — the state’s version of the Dream Act — to extend in-state tuition to undocumented immigrants who meet certain conditions. Question 4 on the ballot asks voters to decide if the law will be upheld. Similar legislation has been adopted by 13 other states but never put to a statewide vote.
“I will vote for the Dream Act not just because I do not believe in visiting the sins of the parents (such as they are) on the sons and daughters, but also because I believe in generosity, in opportunity and in hope,” said Ballenger. “I am aware of and do not in any way mean to dismiss the severity of critical financial concerns, but resist having our policies, the tenor of our conversations and relationships — our very identity — defined by fear.
“I am, in fact, more afraid that in our current fears (all legitimate, by the way), we will sacrifice the best of who we still consider ourselves to be,” Ballenger added. “We are already living into the denial and undermining of what the Statue of Liberty represents (freedom and opportunity not for us, but for them). Not to mention that I have scoured the Scriptures and determined that ‘according to the Bible,’ we are to treat ‘the alien’ far more generously than we do.”
Stinson said she believes the Dream Act legislation will be upheld “because most people here personally know numerous ones who fall in this category” of undocumented immigrant.
Same-sex marriage
Earlier this year the General Assembly adopted legislation to legalize gay marriage and Gov. Martin O’Malley, who endorsed the measure, signed it into the law, saying it protects the religious beliefs of clergy who oppose same-sex marriage. But opponents collected enough signatures to force a ballot referendum — Question 6 — in today’s election.
Same-sex marriage has never succeeded at the ballot box in the United States. Thirty-two states have held votes on the issue since 1998, and all have opposed it. Maryland is one of four states — others are Maine, Minnesota and Washington — with similar referendums today.
“Conversation about Questions 6 seems to be positive and matter-of-fact,” said Stinson. “I’ve frequently heard several church members and other Maryland Baptist friends ask one another, ‘Which way are you going to vote?’ The answers are easily given and easily received. While there is occasional variation, the most-often heard response to the same-sex marriage question resonates with the belief that it’s the right thing to do — period.”
Long said he has “generally encouraged favorable consideration of this question to permit same-sex civil union.”
“From a civil rights perspective it is simply the right thing to do,” he said. “Moreover, the law includes specific provisions that allow churches and clergy to refuse to officiate such unions on religious grounds, essentially providing a firewall that has many other clergy in the area publicly supporting the approval of this question because of the explicit protection for religious groups.
“It seems that the proposed legislation honors the authority of local congregations on their moral position on the issue, while separating the function of the state in civil unions from religious interference,” Long added. “I think the founders would be pleased.”
Ballenger said he will “vote for civil rights.”
“Whatever anyone’s opinion (or biblical interpretation) of homosexuality, whatever anyone’s concern about the already admittedly appalling state of marriage in our culture, whatever anyone’s concern about shaking the foundation of society as a whole, the state has no business discriminating legal benefits,” he said.
Casino gambling
The General Assembly passed legislation in August that would allow a Las Vegas-style casino in Prince George’s County, just outside Washington. The bill would also allow table games, such as blackjack and roulette, at the state’s other approved slots locations. Question 7 gives voters the final say on whether the plan goes forward.
National Harbor, the 300-acre mini-city on the Potomac River, could be site of a casino in Prince George's County by 2016.
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Proponents of the measure say it will increase jobs and provide more money for public education. Opponents said there is no assurance that gambling revenue would not simply replace money originally intended for public education, which would be spent elsewhere. But the multi-million advertising campaign for and against it was at times confusing for other reasons.
MGM Resorts aims to build a high-end casino by 2016 at National Harbor, the 300-acre mini-city on the Potomac River just south of Washington, and pumped $21 million into ads supporting casino expansion. Meanwhile, Penn National Gaming spent nearly $30 million to oppose it — largely, said some observers, because its Hollywood Casino in Charles City, W. Va. will lose Maryland customers if the Prince George’s casino is allowed to move forward.
MGM plans a 400-room hotel, a spa, high-end retail and restaurants, convention space and possibly venues for concerts and shows at National Harbor. If built, it could be the most lucrative casino on the East Coast, the Washington Post predicts, drawing gamblers from the District and Virginia as well as visitors from around the globe.
Stinson said confusion about the issue has resulted in “less certainty” on Question 7. And Long said some of the arguments presented have been “morally vacant.”
“I encourage Christians to think about a few aspects that aren’t readily apparent,” said Long “One is that the money is fungible. Casinos might bring more revenue into the state coffers, but it is not likely to actually increase the amount of dollars going toward public education.”
And, he added, the argument that “we’re doing it for the kids” is essentially saying, “Let’s do the wrong thing for a good reason.”
“But that still leaves us doing a wrong thing,” he said. “The casinos in Prince George’s County will carry myriad hidden costs,” Long added. “There is an untold and immeasurable cost in the lives that gambling addiction destroys. What will be the social cost of broken marriages and the subsequent damage to children? What is the real cost of single moms raising kids? Some will argue that addicts will drive to New Jersey or West Virginia anyway, but that is a morally vacant argument.”
Ballenger said he opposes Question 7 — which could facilitate expanded casino operations in Baltimore as well. Caesars Entertainment has been given approval to construct a gaming venue in downtown Baltimore in 2014.
“The whole thing has left a bad taste in my mouth: a governor who was against it when the former governor proposed it, money that may or may not go where we’re being told it will go,” he said. “And in a city with a 25 percent poverty rate (37 percent among children), the last thing we need is easier access to the long odds of a spurious hope to take rent and utilities and grocery money.”
Robert Dilday ([email protected]) is managing editor of the Religious Herald