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The Lotto and the Lord: Religious Influences on the Adoption of a Lottery in SouthCarolina
Laura R. Olson; Karen V. Guth; James L. Guth
Sociology of Religion
, Vol. 64, No. 1. (Spring, 2003), pp. 87-110.
Stable URL:http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=1069-4404%28200321%2964%3A1%3C87%3ATLATLR%3E2.0.CO%3B2-H
Sociology of Religion
is currently published by Association for the Sociology of Religion, Inc..Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use, available athttp://www.jstor.org/about/terms.html. JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unless you have obtainedprior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and you may use content inthe JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use.Please contact the publisher regarding any further use of this work. Publisher contact information may be obtained athttp://www.jstor.org/journals/asr.html.Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the screen or printedpage of such transmission.The JSTOR Archive is a trusted digital repository providing for long-term preservation and access to leading academic journals and scholarly literature from around the world. The Archive is supported by libraries, scholarly societies, publishers,and foundations. It is an initiative of JSTOR, a not-for-profit organization with a mission to help the scholarly community takeadvantage of advances in technology. For more information regarding JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.http://www.jstor.orgSun Jul 1 06:35:46 2007
 
Sociology of Religion
2003,64:
1
87-
1
10
The Lotto and the Lord: ReligiousInfluences on the Adoption of aLottery in South Carolina
Laura
R.
~lson*
ClemUniversi~y
Karen
V.
Guth
Harvard University
James
L.
Guth
Furman University
On
Nowmber
7,
2000,
despite the ardent pleas of clergy
jiom
across
the
spectrum of religioustraditions, South Carolina voters repealed a constitua'onal amendment
to
pave the way for a statelottery. In a state
known
for intense evangelical religiosity, this outcome raises several important
questions
about
the
@tical
influence
of
religion and religious leaders.
In
this article
we
offer a historyof
the
religious aspects of
the
lottery debate in South Carolina and an empirical
look
at
the
relution-ships between religious
fanors
and
suppa for
the
Iottery among South Carolina voters. Specifically,
we
explore
the
extent
to
which
involvement in evangelid Protestantism,
politicul
salience of religion,and clergy cues affected
puMic
support for a state lottery. Data for
the
empirical analysis are drawn
from
an
October
3,2000
poU
of
4.50
South Carolinians who
had
voted in two previous elections.
In November
1998
Democrat Jim Hodges won a surprise victory in hiscampaign for governor of South Carolina, largely on a promise to institute astate lottery to raise money for education. But when the new governor lobbiedthe legislature to authorize the necessary public referendum to change the stateconstitution to allow a lottery, religious leaders voiced forceful opposition. Asthe subsequent referendum campaign heated up in the summer of 2000, anti-lottery signs proliferated on church property, clergy signed full-page newspaper
*
Direct am-e
to:
Lawa
R.
Olson, Depnrtment of
Polid
Sciolce,
Chson Universiry 232 Brackea
Hal,
Box
34
1354, Ch,
C
29634- 1354, e-moil:lawao@ckmson.edu.An
earlier
version of
this
article
was
presented
at
the
Annual Meeting of
the
Association for
the
Sociology
of
Religion,
Anaheim, California, August 17-
1
9,
2001
.
Wewish
to
thank
tuu
anonymous
reviewers, Nancy Nawn-CLnk, David Sikkink,
and
Michael
Welch or valuable input
about
the
project.
We also wish
to
drank
the
Jim Self Colter on
the
Fmre of
the
J. Stnmr Thunnond
Institute
as
Clanron
Unim'ty
jbr
prding
the
clata,
and Bruce
Ransom
and
J.
David Woodard for
including
religion
items
in
the
suruey.
87
 
advertisements opposing the plan, and minister after minister wrote letters tothe editor and guest commentaries for the South Carolina press.Yet these clerical efforts failed. Voters endorsed the governor's proposal onElection Day
2000
by a solid margin, culminating a battle that virtually over-shadowed the presidential election in South Carolina. In a state known forintense evangelical religiosity (some call it "the buckle of the Bible belt"), thisoutcome raises important questions about the political influence of religiousleaders. Did voters disregard the historic antigambling precepts of their own con-servative religious traditions? Did they not see the relevance of their faith to thispolitical choice? Did the clergy lack the ability to sway public opinion! Or,perhaps, did other factors overwhelm the influence of religion and its leaders?In this article we offer a history of the religious aspects of the lottery debatein South Carolina and an empirical look at the relationships between religiousfactors and support for the lottery among South Carolina voters. Specifically, towhat extent did involvement in evangelical Protestantism, the political salienceof religion, and clergy cues affect public support for
a
state lottery?
THE
POLITICS OFMORALITY
The lottery issue presents a quintessential case of "morality politics," thekind of public question on which religious factors should play an important role(Meier 1994; Wald, Button, and Rienzo 2001). Morality questions, according tomany scholars, tend to evoke and make politically salient the fundamentalvalues of citizens. In a number of ways, such questions differ from economicpolicy issues that involve the distribution of material benefits. Morality politicsare more tied to the basic values of citizens, are often easy to simplify into either-or choices, and frequently resist compromise between the proponents ofopposing positions.
As
a result, the political configurations surrounding moralityissues often differ from those of economic policy disputes. Instead of splitting thepublic along social class lines
-
between the wealthy and working class, forexample
-
morality issues reputedly divide citizens along "culture war" lines(Hunter 1991)' pitting religious traditionalists on the one hand against religiousliberals and seculars on the other. Traditionalists, especially evangelical Protest-ants, tend to conceptualize morality in terms of private personal sanctification("living a Godly life"), whereas liberals, including mainline Protestants andmany Catholics and African American Protestants, are apt to cast morality inpublic terms ("fighting for justice for all people").Furthermore, on such policy questions, reactions will be shaped not only bythe religious characteristics of voters, but by whether they consider their ownreligious beliefs (or lack thereof) politically relevant.
As
David Leege has argued,"it would be misleading to claim that all people who report a religious exper-ience have their political views shaped in similar ways by that tradition. Forsome a religious affiliation is highly salient for politics. For others it is salient for
of 00

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