wfn.org | Kansas dialogue examines dilemma of Indian casinos

[NewsDesk <NewsDesk@UMCOM.UMC.ORG>]

March 30, 1999 News Media Contact: Linda Green*(615)742-5470*Nashville,
Tenn.  10-34-71B{171}

By United Methodist News Service*

United Methodists in Holton, Kan., and representatives from Native American
tribes in the area have met in dialogue for the first time to help one
another understand the appeal of casinos and why the church opposes
gambling.

The March 15 event, sponsored by the Topeka District Council on Ministries,
brought together the Rev. Thom White Wolf Fassett, top staff executive of
the denominationwide Board of Church and Society, community leaders, local
tribal people and 154 church members for "Neighbors in Conversation: Indian
Casinos -- Dilemma or Opportunity." Holton is just a few miles from one of
the largest Indian casinos in Kansas.

Indian casinos have become a way for tribal communities to benefit from
economic development on their own lands. The casinos are seen as a
significant means of survival for once impoverished tribes. The United
Methodist Church firmly opposes gambling but also is committed to the
sovereignty of Native people.

"Gambling is a menace to society, deadly to the best interests of morals,
social, economic, and spiritual life, and destructive of good government,"
according to the United Methodist Church's lawbook, the Book of Discipline.
Church polity calls on Christians to "abstain" from gambling and "strive to
minister to those victimized by the practice." The Discipline encourages the
promotion of "standards and personal lifestyles that would make it
unnecessary and undesirable (to) resort to commercial gambling - including
public lotteries - as a recreation, as an escape, or as a means of producing
public revenue or funds for support of charities or government."

"We have created our own dilemma in that we, as United Methodists, are faced
with questions of how we can be faithful to both our positions as our tribal
brothers and sisters are turning to gaming as a source of economic
stability," said Fassett, a member of the Seneca nation.

Noting the popular myth that suggests that all Native Americans across the
country are involved in gaming, Fassett said, "in reality, only about 20
percent are involved." He said "not all nations are in favor of gambling,
which creates tension within and between the tribes."

With gaming, bargains and covenants must be struck with state governors and
agreements are made to uphold federal laws, making some Native Americans
believe that a tribe has given up rights and compromised sovereignty,
Fassett said. "However, many tribes feel that this is not all bad in
contrast to the 90 to 95 percent unemployment rate that exists on many of
the reservations today." Moreover, Indian tribes cannot open casinos in
states that do not already have established gaming, he said.

Fassett explained how the resources of Indian nations continue to be
exploited. Evidence suggests laws and policies have failed to protect Indian
interests and lands adequately, he said. 

"History indicates that tribal lands which have been taken away in the past
have been those which offer the greatest economic potential, and the
remaining tribal lands are unable to sustain the increasing Indian
population," he said. "Indians are forced into an economy where poverty and
unemployment" are inevitable.

The general notion that exists today is that Indians drain the public system
while escaping the grips of taxation, Fassett said. He cautioned the
participants to be mindful that when looking at the modern conditions of
Native Americans, "the power to tax is also the power to destroy."

Kansas state Rep. Becky Hutchins shared information gleaned from hearings
last summer that examined the impact of Indian and non-Indian casinos across
the state. The hearings confirmed that while casinos boost a reservation's
economy, the people that frequent them sometimes require increased social
services, said Hutchins, who serves on the House Committee on Federal and
State Affairs.

Local law enforcement and mental health officials agreed. Traffic problems,
debt, crime and compulsive disorders have increased in the areas surrounding
Kansas' casinos, they said.

Hutchins, also a United Methodist, said the church should begin closely
monitoring the casinos because "there are many older adults who are spending
a lot of time in casinos, some of whom are spending resources for their
future livelihood, with a relatively short period of time to recover the
devastating loss of their savings." 

The Rev. Jim McKinney, a retired United Methodist pastor and member of the
Prairie Band Potawatomie Tribe, said he sees the impact of casinos on
reservations not as a gaming issue or a moral question, but rather as an
issue of Indian sovereignty and economic development. For many Native
Americans, he said, "casino gambling is seen as the only business option
that produces enough revenue to provide an Indian tribe with economic
viability."

Native Americans have embraced casinos because the facilities create a
better quality of life, said JoAnn Kaner, gaming commissioner for the
Kickapoo Tribe. Casinos have enabled many children from the reservation to
attend college, while before casinos, government programs allowed Native
Americans to just exist, she said. 

"With Indian people, it's not what they have that makes them important, it's
what they can give away that raises their worth," Kaner said. "Revenues are
put back into making life better for the tribe, and that is why gaming has
hit home with Indian nations."

Kansas Bishop Fritz Mutti called on all United Methodists to become involved
in economic justice issues for Native Americans across the country. He also
encouraged the development of partnerships to create economic development,
aside from gambling, that will make a difference in their lives.

"I pray that we will have the ears to hear the cries of all hurting people
as well as the eyes to see the possible solutions," Mutti said, "and that
God may reveal to us a willingness to act boldly and faithfully in the name
of Christ."

# # #

*Information for this story was adapted from an article written by Charlene
Bailey for Christian Social Action magazine. Bailey is director of
communications for the United Methodist Church's Kansas East Annual
Conference.

______________
United Methodist News Service
http://www.umc.org/umns/
newsdesk@umcom.umc.org
(615)742-5472