Antigambling coalition formed

In a rare show of unity on a public-policy issue, the mainline ecumenical National Council of Churches and the conservative evangelical Christian Coalition announced january 17 that they would work together to try to stop the spread of legal gambling in the U.S. "When the Christian Coalition and the National Council of Churches join together on an issue, that's remarkable," said Ralph Reed, the former's executive director. Reed spoke at a news conference to mark the opening of a Washington office of the National Coalition Against Legalized Gambling.

Reed was joined by Tom Grey, a United Methodist minister and executive director of the National Coalition Against Legalized Gambling; Mary Cooper, associate director of the National Council of Churches' Washington office; and representatives of the United Methodist Church and the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). The new Washington office, to be headed by Grey, is an expansion of a modest effort he began in Chicago. He said the interfaith effort is a signal that the nation's religious community is ready to take the offensive against the gambling industry.

Some form of gambling is legal in all but two states--Utab and Hawaii. In 1992 some $329 billion was legally wagered in the nation, according to both proponents and opponents of legalized gambling. The figure includes state-sponsored lotteries. Between 1989 and 1994, 19 states legalized commercial gambling casinos and ten states legalized video slot or poker machines at racetracks and bars.

Frank Fahrenkopf Jr., president of the American Gaming Association, a Washington-based trade association of large casino operators, commented that he was not surprised at the opening of the office. "Our attitude is that people who don't agree with us have the right to organize and pursue their agenda," Fahrenkopf said. "If they want to say that gaming is immoral, that's fine and I respect them for that. But I resent it when he [Grey] and others point their fingers at me and the eight of ten Americans who don't believe that."

At the top of the antigambling effort's priorities, Grey said, is establishment of a national commission to investigate legalized gambling's economic impact on cities, its alleged ties to organized crime, and the political influence the gambling industry wields through campaign contributions. Legislation to create the commission has been introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives by Frank Wolf (R., Va.) and in the Senate by Paul Simon (D., Ill.). President Clinton has voiced support for the idea.

Fahrenkopf indicated that his group opposes the bill creating the federal commission as it is presently drafted. "The industry has nothing to fear from an unbiased ... look at [it], but the bill presupposes that the commission will propose federal laws to regulate gaming," he said. "You're not going to get one federal envelope that fits every state."

At the news conference, gambling opponents promised to seek passage of the bill creating the federal commission and rally grass-roots members to oppose the expansion of gambling at local and state levels. "It is our view that gambling in any form contributes nothing positive to society," the NCC's Cooper said. "It offers no services, creates nothing of value, and does not improve the lives of those who participate." Using even stronger language, Reed declared: "We believe gambling is a cancer on the American body politic. It is stealing food from the mouths of children ... [and] turning wives into widows."

Elenora Ivory Giddings, in voicing the Presbyterian Church's support for the antigambling coalition, cited a July 1995 statement of the denomination charging that legalized gambling "has negatively affected the overall quality of life and has cost billions of dollars in communities and entire states." Thom White Wolf Fassett, general secretary of the United Methodist Church's Board of Church and Society, told the news conference that his denomination "has been adamantly opposed to gambling" since Methodism's founding. In praising the launching of the national office, Fassett said "the churches are the likely center" for this antigambling drive.

Bishops issue warning on Catholic Alliance

Colorado's three Roman Catholic bishops have sent a letter to the 200 Catholic priests in the state asserting that the Christian Coalition's Catholic wing, the Catholic Alliance, does not represent "the so-called Catholic position" on policy issues before the nation. We must say as strongly as possible: the Catholic Alliance of the Christian Coalition does not represent the "Catholic Church," the letter said.

"The Catholic Church addresses issues of morality, justice, peace and human dignity" through the National Conference of Catholic Bishops and its social-policy arm, the U.S. Catholic Conference, it added. The letter was issued by Archbishop J. Francis Stafford of Denver, Bishop Richard C. Hanifen of Colorado Springs and Bishop Arthur Tafoya of Pueblo.

They wrote that the church may agree with the coalition on issues such as abortion, euthanasia and pornography, "but we sharply disagree on issues such as welfare reform, capital punishment and health care reform." Mike Russell, the Christian Coalition's spokesman, characterized the Colorado bishops' letter as "much ado about nothing" and said the Catholic Alliance "has never made claims to speak for the Catholic Church."