The JCC and gambling

THE EDITOR, Sir:

RECENTLY, IT has been said that the Jamaica Council of Churches, lacks the credibility to deal with the violence in West Kingston (not the same as Western Kingston), because of the manner in which the JCC has been too selective in some of its pronouncements.

One politician indicated that the JCC is the PNP at prayer. We have heard these statements before and so about four years ago we asked that a thorough investigation be done of all the minutes, policy statements and news releases which were written for over 25 years to see if the JCC was ever partisan at any moment in its prophetic ministry.

This was examined critically in 'Issues in the news' which is broadcast on Love FM and we did not unearth any evidence of partisan behaviour. A decision was taken about five years ago to avoid confrontationist manifestations, and the JCC executive had dialogue with the PNP, JLP and the NDM, to begin to charter a new relationship which was well received.

On a recent TV Programme 'Question Time'on CVM, (Thursday, June 14, 2001), the ancient complaint was resurrected from the tomb, that the JCC was very critical of gambling under the JLP regime but did not give the same intense analysis when the PNP was in power, especially in regard to the introduction of slot machines.

(1) The truth is that slot machines were in bars, hotels. clubs and in some private places long before the PNP came in power and was never noticed by the JCC. The entry was very clandestine.

(2) One of the great achievements of the Jamaica Council of Churches, was its consistency in being averse to gambling in Jamaica. From the day the JCC was established every area of gambling has come under serious scrutiny. These include, cock-fighting, dog-racing, did not agree with the establishment of a new race track at Falmouth, objected to the national lottery, and led the way in defying the introduction of casino gambling in Jamaica.

I do remember that the Rev. Dr. Edmund Davis was general-secretary of the JCC when the PNP was in power and served for a time during the regime of the JLP. My duty was to do research and gather all the documentation pertaining to casino gambling, in the Caribbean, Austria, the USA and Britain. At that time the Church was better prepared intellectually and had far more evidence against casino gambling than what was being offered by the politicians and those in the private sector that were for casino gambling. The Church won the intellectual battle.

The truth is that under the PNP regime, although the clergy were academically prepared, some became battle worn due to the tribalism of the 1970s and early 1980s, so the prophetic voice of the Church appeared to be on leave. I was again asked to do more research for the anti-casino lobby and was invited to travel to Negril to take part in a session, where it was being argued that casino gambling would solve most of our problems and could provide 25,000 jobs.

The crux of the matter is that the research done against casino gambling when the PNP returned to power was more thorough and far more damaging that when the JLP was in charge of government.

a) I was able to obtain vital evidence from the NCALG (National Coalition Against Legalised Gambling ­ in the USA).

b) The US Senate decided to scrutinise the effects of legalised gambling, and the evidence was massive.

c) The Federal Gambling Study Commission in the USA was very helpful.

The documents covered a wide range of investigation which were never available during the regime of the JLP. For example.

i) The social and economic effects of gambling.

ii) The negative economic impact of casino gambling.

iii) The link between gambling and money laundering ­ gambling and crime.

iv) The negative effects of gambling on the family life in the USA. This is a 17-page indictment which should be compulsory reading for all politicians.

v) Addiction to casino gambling had become so chronic that a hospital was being built in Britain, and in Nova Scotia, it was found that the cost for the treatment of addicts wiped out the profits made from casino gambling.

vi) There was also a document which showed the link between casino gambling and hard drugs.

vii) The research done by the Chicago police was very instructive.

The credibility of the JCC was maintained because we were faithful to the integrity of the intellectual research which was deep, thorough and was not in any way attributed to any political partisan fixation.

I am etc.

REV CANON ERNLE P. GORDON

Vice-Pres. JCC.(Surrey)

E-mail: gordfm@yahoo.com

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