Gambling is a sin, according to four church leaders who spoke out this week against the Catawba Indian Nation's request to operate a high-stakes bingo operation in Orangeburg County.

A church near the Santee Outlet Stores where the gaming facility would be built issued a short written statement:

"The Santee Bible Baptist Church objects to a gambling facility being located in the Santee area. As a moral issue, the position of our church is that gambling is sin and that 'Righteousness exalteth a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people' (Proverbs 14:34)."

Knowing that the subject is a delicate one in the community, the congregation discussed and prayed at length about what, if anything, it should say publicly, said the pastor, the Rev. Gene Ball.

It was "the consensus of the congregation" that a brief public statement was in order, Ball said. "For us to keep silent would be wrong. We didn't want to give assent by silence."

"We are not against economic development," Ball said. What the congregation opposes is this particular venture's focus on gambling. The many as-yet-unanswered questions about its operation also concerns the congregation.

In the county seat nearly 30 miles to the west, the rhetoric was sharper.

"We are in a battle for the souls of men," Pastor Thomas Brookshire exhorted his flock during the Wednesday evening prayer service at Orangeburg Baptist Tabernacle.

The church must "raise a standard that the community can see" and must "let people know what's right and what's wrong, without fear, favor or apology," he said.

Brookshire attended a Bible conference in Orlando, Fla., last week. He recalled stopping at a convenience store there and watching a woman spend more than $100 on Florida Lottery tickets.

"There's a time to say, enough is enough," he said. "Our land needs healing. Our community needs healing."

"We can't bury our heads in the sand," he said. It's time for every "born again, blood-washed child of God ... to take a stand ... against the evils of the day ... even though it may be unpopular."

Prohibition -- when alcoholic beverages were banned in the United States -- was unpopular, too, but "crime went down and insane asylums just about went out of business," Brookshire said.

"A lot of people" say the bingo operation will generate economic activity, he said, but he predicted that "for every dollar, we will pay $5 to take care of social ills."

Too, Pastor Gerald Fleming said he has "talked to my people from the pulpit" of Gospel Light Baptist Church near Orangeburg. His message: "Biblically, gambling is wrong."

"People are going to be playing bingo rather than feeding their families. I saw that when I was with the U.S. Air Force. People get hooked on slot machines. I know right now they're not (allowed to have slot machines), but it has an impact on the family. We're concerned for the families of those people (gamblers)."

"I'm not a politician. I'm a preacher. But I think it's time that everybody gets involved. Hopefully there would be a lot of other churches that would stand up against this issue or we're going to have a lot of things in our county that we don't want," Fleming said.

"People are trying to justify it economically. ... I've got a lot of questions," he said in an interview. "How long are these jobs going to last?"

The Catawbas have said the project would create up to 2,000 construction and operation jobs, but how many of those positions would be temporary and how many would be permanent has not been stated.

Many business and economic development leaders say the gaming site would encourage travelers along the main New York-to-Miami highway to spend time and money in Santee.

"We're not highway robbers, trying to pick the pockets of people who are traveling Interstate 95. They are trying to make us thieves!" said Charles Butler, a church planter with Macedonia World Baptist Mission.

Butler is in the process of raising financial support to establish another independent Baptist church in the Orangeburg area. He counts among his supporters Orangeburg Baptist Tabernacle, Gospel Light Baptist Church and Grace Baptist Church.

The bingo operation does not fit in a county that promotes itself as a "community of character," Butler said in an interview.

He predicted that "80 to 90 percent" of the bingo hall's patrons will be local residents, not tourists. "That is my greatest concern," he said.

"We invite all who would like to stand against this issue to stand with us. They're organized. We've got to get organized as well," Butler said.

Butler said people who want to fight gambling in Orangeburg County can write him c/o Orangeburg Baptist Tabernacle, 3440 North Road, Orangeburg SC 29118.

The Catawbas have asked Congress to place them under the jurisdiction of the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act, which would allow round-the-clock class 2 gaming -- bingo, but not casino games -- and would remove the $100,000-a-game cap on winnings.

"I've got people ready. We're going to support (Gov.) Mark Sanford and (U.S. Sen.) Lindsey Graham. We're going to write to (U.S. Rep. James) Clyburn and (Catawba) Chief (Gilbert) Blue and tell them why we stand against it," Butler said.

"They're going to have to stand before God one day and give an account for ... the bankruptcies, broken marriages, neglected children, theft, murder and absenteeism from work" and other destructive results of gaming, according to Butler.

Gambling is "morally and socially wrong," Butler said. "It's nothing we need in South Carolina or in Santee or Orangeburg County, period."

The state's agreement with the Catawbas gives them the right to operate two bingo operations. One must be near Rock Hill. That one has been operating for several years. The tribe would like to establish the other site just outside Santee.

"This is a Pandora's box. They are promising the world. They make all kinds of concessions in the beginning to get their foot in the door, but once they get going, they (want to) change things," Butler said.

"I've got documented cases where (states) have allowed riverboat casinos and then later passed legislation" lifting the original restrictions on jackpots and types of gaming, he said.

That erosion of restrictions already has begun here as well. The Catawbas want fewer restrictions on their Santee operation than on their original Rock Hill operation, he said.

At Santee, the Catawbas want permission to offer computerized bingo gambling. "It's video poker all over again," Butler said, shrugging off that it's a different game.

"Nobody has talked about its addictive nature," he said. "It will spread like cancer. It's going to eat up our people. ... Money they would have spent in the stores will be spent in this bingo hall. They will give all of that money to the Catawbas."

"Gambling doesn't create any new wealth; it only redistributes the wealth on an inequitable basis," Butler said.

"There are documented studies that show gambling has increased homelessness and violent crimes and creates an atmosphere (conducive to) bringing in organized crime and corrupting local officials and policemen," Butler said.

That endangers the "family environment" of Santee and Orangeburg County, he said. "Our leaders have an ethical as well as an economic responsibility" to do what's best for the community.

Santee's economy needs manufacturing jobs, and once the infrastructure is in place, industries will come, but not if the town has become "crime-ridden," Butler said.

There are also moral concerns about gambling. "The Bible teaches that the way to wealth is by working hard, rolling your sleeves up and persevering, not by luck," Butler said.

"Wealth gotten by vanity shall be diminished, but he that gathers by labor shall increase," he said, quoting Proverbs 13:11 and adding, "That really sums up everything I'm saying."

T&D Staff Writer Lee Hendren can be reached by e-mail at lhendren@timesanddemocrat.com or by phone at 803-533-5552.

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