Churches line up against casino initiatives on ballot

Courtney Lowery

Friday, July 23, 2004 | 9:37 a.m.

OMAHA, Neb. -- The group leading efforts to defeat expanded gambling in Nebraska may have found the linchpin in its campaign Thursday, said Pat Loontjer, who leads the group Gambling with the Good Life.

Leaders from nearly all major religious denominations in Nebraska gathered Thursday in Omaha to announce a new coalition of churches that will join Gambling with the Good Life in trying to stop two proposed gambling initiatives slated to be on the November ballot.

Loontjer said because the reach of the religious community into the public is so deep, the coalition could prove to be a deciding factor in the election.

"It's tremendous," Loontjer said. "Each one of these people have a whole network. We can't contact thousands of people, but they can. This will be a big, big part of our effort."

Alabama Baptist preacher Dan Ireland, who has spearheaded anti-gambling efforts in Alabama and Tennessee among others, was also at Thursday's news conference to rally support for the campaign.

Ireland, who served two terms as the president of the National Coalition Against Legalized Gambling in Washington, D.C., said the religious community can play a big role in which way the election goes.

He said the charge he and others led in Alabama "made the difference" in voters refusing to allow a lottery in their state.

While the leaders in the coalition hail from churches with different faiths, Ireland said opinions on gambling rarely differ.

"There are some common denominators and this is one of them," Ireland said.

Eric Bents, a staff pastor at the nondenominational Trinity Church in Omaha said its a top issue for churches because often they "are the ER for the spiritual and moral devastation."

Bents said gambling will leave churches to pick up the pieces of social breakdown.

"We're happy to do that," he said. "We just don't want to increase our business."