A senior AME pastor has urged churchmen who protest gaming in Bermuda to "do it with love".

Rev. Wilbur Lowe Jr., of Mount Zion AME, who opposes gambling on moral grounds, said he expects picketing and demonstrations from many of his colleagues within the Island's AME church.

But Rev. Lowe, known as one of Bermuda's more liberal pastors, called for a tolerant response to Premier Ewart Brown's announcement of a feasibility study into the introduction of casinos and a national lottery.

He told The Royal Gazette yesterday: "Too very often the church comes across as being very angry and very intolerant and when that happens their message gets lost.

"While I may be against the whole idea of gambling – because I believe it brings many evils – I don't necessarily feel that I'm in a position to be judge and jury of people like God is.

"I know that my view may be a little more liberal; there's a lot of intolerance in the church that hinders our message. People see that intolerance in us.

"The church's responsibility here is to just make its view known and live by it.

"I know there's going to be some picketing, some demonstrations. That's fine. But do it with love."

The AME church, the third largest church on the Island representing nearly 7,000 people, has consistently taken a firm line against gambling, and has recently objected to the controversial casino ship Niobe Corinthian.

Explaining there are several anti-gambling references in the Bible, Rev. Lowe said: "We are categorically against any game of chance or gambling. But it looks as if the country is slowly moving towards the idea of gambling.

"It was 20 or 25 years ago, I remember sitting in the Senate chamber and having a meeting with other church leaders and we categorically stood up against it.

"Years ago it was looked upon as a great evil. I think people are somewhat relaxing the standards as it relates to gambling and other great evils. I think the community and culture is very relaxed on what's right and wrong."

The Seventh-day Adventist Church, which also opposes gambling as it believes it erodes family values and is incompatible with a Christian lifestyle, yesterday said it was not against an open forum on the subject.

Dr. Brown and the Bermuda Hotel Association announced the joint $300,000 Innovation Group study at a press conference yesterday. Government will pay about $180,000 and hotels $120,000.

The Premier said: "We have listened to the developers who are investing heavily into Bermuda by building new hotels and likewise to those existing hoteliers who are attempting to refresh and renew their hotel product. There is broad support for some form of gaming in Bermuda from their perspective but that is not enough to cause the Government to implement it.

"Gaming is not unknown to Bermuda or Bermudians. Certain gaming pursuits have become culturally permissible. These include Crown and Anchor, high-stakes card games, bingo and the various pools. Additionally, it is fair to say that considerable numbers of Bermudians travel to well known gambling cities for the sole purpose of that activity."

The study will assess the pros and cons of casinos and a traditional or Internet-based lottery; gaming legislation; revenue from tax; and economic and social impacts of gambling.

Hoteliers have said they believed Government was pushing the project, but Dr. Brown said: "It happened both ways. There have been a number of hoteliers who have raised this issue time and time again."

Fairmont Southampton managing director Norman Mastalir said hoteliers had been lobbying Government, while Tucker's Point Club CEO Ed Trippe said: "I welcome Government taking the lead in initiating this."

Mr. Trippe said the move was timely with tourism struggling and an uncertain future ahead thanks to the global economic downturn.