Casino News Source: Courier-Journal - http://www.courier-journal.com
Religious leaders unite to oppose casino proposal
But many in congregations favor letting voters decide
By Peter Smith
psmith@courier-journal.com
The Courier-Journal
Gov. Steve Beshear's bid to bring casino gambling to Kentucky has made for strange pew-fellows.
Every major religious advocacy group has united in opposition -- Catholic and Protestant, black and white, conservatives who view gambling as a destructive personal sin and liberals who see an industry that preys on the poor.
Despite religious groups' disagreements on other issues in Frankfort, "this is the one thing that seems to galvanize everyone," said Hershael York, a Frankfort pastor and past president of the Kentucky Baptist Convention. "That ought to say something to the political world."
But what it says to the people in the pews is another question.
Surveys and other data indicate that while the religious leadership is united against the gambling initiative, lay people's views and practices are mixed.
Most frequent churchgoers and evangelical or born-again Christians oppose casino gambling, according to a September 2007 Courier-Journal Bluegrass Poll.
But unlike their leaders, more than three-quarters of each of those groups favor putting the casino question on the ballot.
"If there's any difference between (the religious) leadership and the people in the pews, I would say that's where it is," said Patrick Neely of the Kentucky Equine Education Project, which backs expanded gambling.
The Rev. Bruce Williams, a Louisville minister and member of the African-American Fellowship Against Expanded Gambling, said he wasn't fazed by the large numbers of religious people supporting a casino referendum.
"It's not so much they're in favor of casino gambling," he said, maintaining that people he's spoken to see it as a choice between "let the people decide" or "let the casinos decide."
Any gambling bill would need approval by three fifths of both houses -- and Senate resistance is stiff -- before going to the voters for approval as a constitutional amendment.
Already, though, gambling has become a part of the lifestyles of many religious people.
Even among the most devout anti-gambling group -- evangelical or born-again Christians who also go to church almost every week or more -- 35 percent had gambled at least once in the 12 months before the September survey.
They either bought lottery tickets, bet on horse races or went to casinos.
That's below the state average of 54 percent.
But evangelicals and born-again Christians who attend worship less often, as well as the non-evangelical or born-again population that does attend worship frequently, gamble at the same rate as the state population as a whole.
Those who fit neither religious category gambled the most.
"I don't think there's the kind of gut-level, utter resistance to all forms of gambling," said Beau Weston, a Centre College sociology professor. "We're a bit inoculated by the lottery."
Weston said even devout Kentuckians are open to compromise on regulating other people's vices. He cited the growing success of "moist" votes -- allowing restaurant alcohol sales in formerly dry rural counties.
A gambling proposal that "is more moderate -- like just (being allowed) in existing racetracks to save the race industry or something like that -- it might pass," said Weston, who studies the sociology of religion.
Those hoping it fails include leaders of virtually every religious group that weighs in on state policy.
They include leaders of the state's three largest religious groups -- the Kentucky Baptist Convention, the Roman Catholic Church and the United Methodist Church.
They also include the African-American Fellowship, representing black ministers; the Family Foundation of Kentucky which, while not a church, has a large conservative evangelical constituency; and the Kentucky Council of Churches, which takes liberal stances on economic issues.
Jewish and other smaller religious groups haven't weighed in on the gambling proposal, at least not prominently.
Religious leaders said that beyond a state task force on strengthening marriage, no issue has brought so many church-related groups together in this largely Christian state.
"It's probably the most amazing coalition when you have … the Family Foundation of Kentucky and the Kentucky Baptist Convention and the Council of Churches and the Catholic Conference (of Kentucky) all on the same page," said the Rev. Nancy Jo Kemper, executive director of the Kentucky Council of Churches.
But even within the coalition there are differences.
While some oppose gambling outright, the Roman Catholic catechism "says games of chance or wagers are not in themselves contrary to justice," said Ed Monahan, executive director of the Catholic Conference of Kentucky, which represents the state's bishops.
Those games "become morally unacceptable when they deprive someone of what is (necessary) to provide for needs."
Catholic parishes and schools often rely on charitable gaming for fundraisers. And Monahan acknowledged this produces its share of problem gamblers, and "we prefer not to have to use (gaming) as a source."
The Kentucky Council of Churches says rejecting casinos is a matter of social justice.
"When a government decides to throw its hat in with a predatory economic enterprise that it has previously labeled illegal and prohibited, it has … given up its moral authority to persuade the people to participate in financing the programs and services it wants," said Kemper, whose council represents 11 Protestant and Catholic denominations.
Conservative evangelicals' opposition is partly rooted in their "strong view of what sin is," York said. But he agreed with economic liberals on the social impact.
"Anybody that's in a helping profession realizes this doesn't help, this hurts," he said.
Nancy Todd Tyner, a Las Vegas-based consultant who helped bring legalized gambling to such socially conservative states as Indiana and Mississippi, said some religious voters are open to arguments that casinos can bring them jobs and economic growth.
But "you get somebody who goes to church three times a week, your arguments aren't going to matter," she said.
Reporter Peter Smith can be reached at (502) 582-4469.
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