c. 2004 Religion News Service
Former Christian Coalition Head Accepts Fees From Casino Lobbyists
(RNS) Ralph Reed, the former head of the Christian Coalition and now a Republican strategist, admitted that he accepted $1.23 million in consulting fees tied to Indian-run gambling casinos, The Washington Post reported.
Reed, who also serves as Southeast regional chairman for the Bush-Cheney campaign, received the fees from two lobbyists whose ties to the Indian tribes are now the subject of a federal investigation.
Sources told The Post that Reed’s Atlanta-based Century Strategies was paid $1.23 million by public relations executive Michael Scanlon, whose clients included a Louisiana Indian tribe that was trying to prevent other tribes from opening competitive casinos. Part of Reed’s job was to mobilize Christian ministers and activists against the new casinos.
Century Strategies also received an unspecified payment from another gaming lobbyist, Jack Abramoff. Abramoff’s former firm, Greenberg Traurig LLP, said in March that Abramoff was no longer part of the firm because his “personal transactions” were “unacceptable to the firm.”
In a statement to The Post, Reed said he never advocated in favor of gambling, a vice that most Christian leaders consider immoral.
“I have worked for decades to oppose the expansion of casino gambling, and as a result of that, Century Strategies has worked with broad coalitions to oppose casino expansion. We are proud of the work we have done. It is consistent not only with my beliefs but with the beliefs of the grass-roots citizens we mobilized.
“At no time was Century Strategy ever retained by, or worked on behalf of, any casino or casino company.”
Reed said he knew that Greenberg Traurig had “certain tribal clients,” but said “we were not aware of every specific client or interest.”
The Post said Scanlon and Abramoff are part of a federal probe involving “$45 million in lobbying and public relations fees, alleged misuse of Indian tribal funds, possible illegal campaign contributions and possible tax code violations.”
Lawyers Say Abuse Claims Could Cost Calif. Dioceses $1.5 Billion
(RNS) Lawyers for victims of clergy sexual abuse said more than 500 abuse lawsuits filed against two Southern California Catholic dioceses could cost the church $1.5 billion to settle.
That amount _ by far the highest of any abuse-related settlement in the nation _ is based on an estimate of $3.1 million for each claimant drafted by victims’ lawyers, the Los Angeles Times reported.
The lawyers have asked various insurance agencies to make sure they have enough money to cover the potential settlements against the Archdiocese of Los Angeles and the neighboring Diocese of Orange.
Insurance executives, meanwhile, are battling with church lawyers over whether church insurance policies cover such settlements, and church leaders contend $3.1 million may be too high.
The three-way struggle is the result of a unique California law that gave alleged victims a one-year window in 2003 to file abuse claims even if the statute of limitations had expired.
The extension allowed more than 500 claims to be filed against the Los Angeles archdiocese, and 60 against the neighboring Diocese of Orange, which is part of the Los Angeles litigation.
Under the $3.1 million formula, the Orange Diocese could pay $186 million _ more than twice as much as the landmark $85 million settlement reached by the scandal-scarred Archdiocese of Boston last year.
Victims’ lawyers said their clients are eligible for more money than the Boston victims because of different state laws, and based their estimates on other large jury awards for abuse victims. Donald Woods Jr., a lawyer for Los Angeles Cardinal Roger Mahony, said $3.1 million seemed excessive.
“We are still evaluating the cases, but $1.5 billion seems way too high,” he told the Times. “As far as we know, there is not any diocese anywhere in America that comes anywhere near reaching that amount.”
Religious Peace Groups, Faith-Based Themes Prominent in GOP Protest
NEW YORK (RNS) Despite concerns that a massive protest on the eve of the Republican National Convention might turn violent, demonstrations in midtown Manhattan on Sunday (Aug. 29) were largely peaceful.
But while long stretches of the two-mile demonstration seemed surprisingly low-key and even a bit listless _ perhaps a result of the hot weather _ there were also plenty of patches of anger in the crowd, which organizers said numbered about 500,000 people. Police gave no official estimate.
Chants of “No More Bush” echoed through the streets, including past Madison Square Garden, site of the Aug. 30-Sept. 2 convention.
The parade of signs registered the anger of protesters against the Bush administration on a host of concerns, ranging from the war in Iraq to constitutional infringements on liberty.
Some of the signs displayed distinctly religious themes, ranging from “Who Would Jesus Bomb?” to “Vote the Burning Bush Out of the White House.” Another expressed alarm at President Bush’s support by conservative Christians, saying “Stop the Fundamentalist Christian Bush Agenda.”
The demonstration included visible participation of Christian, Jewish and Buddhist peace groups, as well as groups of seminarians and members of religious congregations.
Hundreds of demonstrators carried flag-draped boxes made to look like coffins, in memory of American troops killed in Iraq.
Meanwhile, on Monday, as the convention opened, a group of prominent Christian leaders _ many of them evangelicals _ took out a full-page ad in The New York Times declaring “God is not a Republican. Or a Democrat.”
The ad, initiated by Sojourners, took special aim at religious right leaders Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson for their endorsement of President Bush.
“We believe that sincere Christians and other people of faith can choose to vote for President Bush or Senator Kerry _ for reasons deeply rooted in their faith,” the ad declared.
_ Chris Herlinger
Irish Prelate Calls on IRA to Lay Down Guns
LONDON (RNS) Roman Catholic Archbishop Sean Brady of Armagh has again called on the Irish Republican Army to lay down its arms.
The new call comes four months after his lecture in London when he called on both communities in Northern Ireland to go the extra mile in order to establish the trust needed to make the peace process work.
Writing in the Sunday Business Post on Sunday (Aug. 29), Brady urged everyone to do more than they had to build confidence in the political process. This includes “challenging our sense of moral, political, military, cultural and religious superiority over others.”
It also means making the practical and political gestures necessary to win the confidence of others, in the spirit of Jesus’ saying, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”
“This means being willing to make the first move, not out of a position of weakness, but as an expression of self-confidence and a willingness to inspire the confidence of others in return,” Brady wrote.
“For example, a decision by the IRA to remove from the current political context what has been described as the `excuse’ of their continued armed existence would not only be a historic event of the utmost importance, but an expression of this kind of self-confidence on the part of the Republican community.
“It is a move for which I plead and pray, because I believe it to be not only right and possible, but also essential to the search for a just and lasting peace at this time. I know that it is a decision which would be warmly welcomed by the overwhelming majority of people on this island.
“I would be disappointed if such a move were not met with an equally positive response on the part of loyalist groups, the Unionist parties and the British government,” he said.
_ Robert Nowell
Shoah Foundation to Share Testimonies With Yad Vashem
LOS ANGELES (RNS) Filmmaker Steven Spielberg’s 10-year-old Survivors of the Shoah Visual History Foundation has agreed to give access to its 52,000 survivor testimonies to the Yad Vashem Holocaust Martyrs’ and Heroes’ Remembrance Authority in Jerusalem.
“We want people to have the best access to the most material,” said Douglas Greenberg, the Shoah foundation’s president and CEO.
With all the testimonies to be sent to Israel by 2008, Yad Vashem will have high-quality digital copies of what the survivors said, with the Shoah foundation’s office in Los Angeles having another set of copies.
The priceless original copies of all those video testimonies, Greenberg told Religion News Service, “are stored under a mountain in Pennsylvania, in a pristine environment. They’re in a very, very safe place.”
Yad Vashem next year is opening a new visual center and museum, and complimenting that will be the Shoah foundation’s archival index of 8,500 testimonies from survivors in Israel.
Giving Yad Vashem access to the testimonies is the second phase of the work of the foundation, created following Spielberg’s Oscar-winning film “Schindler’s List.” By 2006, Greenberg said, the foundation plans to expand its anti-Semitic awareness and tolerance education programs into Eastern Europe and the former Soviet republics, where Greenberg said the horrors of both Nazism and communist Stalinism can be highlighted for future generations.
_ David Finnigan
Quote of the Day: Former President Bill Clinton
(RNS) “Sometimes I think our friends on the other side have become the people of the Nine Commandments. It is wrong to bear false witness.”
_ Former President Bill Clinton, chiding Republicans for attacking Sen. John Kerry’s war record in Vietnam. Clinton, speaking at a Sunday (Aug. 29) service at New York’s Riverside Church, said the attacks were false. He was quoted by The New York Times.
DEA/PH END RNS
