Bankers' Y2K sermon gets lukewarm response

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Bankers' Y2K sermon gets lukewarm response

Saturday, August 28, 1999

By BARRY KAWA PLAIN DEALER REPORTER

Bankers wanting to prevent runs on their banks because of year 2000 computer hysteria are turning to a higher authority: God.

The American Bankers Association issued a suggested sermon for clergy last week, titled "Thinking about Y2K: Moses, Orson Welles and Bill Gates." The four-page sermon urges parishioners to "trust God" and have faith in another mighty entity - the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.

But not all area banks are planning to ask clergy to give the sermon, despite the urging of their trade association. "I don't necessarily think we want to pre-empt God," said Dan Shingler, spokesman at National City Bank.

The Rev. Kevin Folger, pastor at Cleveland Baptist Church on Tiedeman Rd., said that while he hasn't seen the ABA sermon, the information might be helpful "because there is a lot of fear" over Y2K. But Folger said he doesn't plan to use it.

"I would obviously have problems with that, because sermons need to be written by pastors, rather than bankers," he said.

ABA spokesman John Hall said a speech writer - who once worked in a Navy chaplain's office - had crafted the sermon. He said some ABA members were upset at ministers and clergy who were "fanning the flames of Y2K."

The sermon starts with an analogy to Orson Welles' infamous 1938 "War of the Worlds" broadcast and the panic it sparked.

It ends with asking pastors to reassure parishioners that the world won't end Jan. 1, 2000.

"They wanted something to give them that ministers and preachers and the clergy could utilize," Hall said of the ABA sermon. "Much like I would send you a press release."

The Rev. David Welle at Calvary Assembly of God in Willoughby Hills said he's "very interested" in seeing the ABA sermon because he's aware of the Y2K fears.

"I'm sure if there were insights in the sermon that I thought would be accurate and would be helpful, that I would incorporate them," Welle said.

Locally, area banks are spending millions on preparing for Y2K.

Metropolitan Bank & Trust, Third Federal Savings and FirstMerit Bank are planning to open most of their branches on Jan. 1 to quell Y2K fears. Some customers are worried that the date changeover will erase all records of their accounts.

KeyCorp officials said the sample sermons will be distributed as part of the bank's Y2K efforts. Willie Kennedy, KeyCorp Year 2000 engagement manager, called the ABA's sermon a "vehicle" to get the message out.

"I think this is the time you really want people to understand what the industry has done to date, and those are excellent forums to go to," Kennedy said.

But Charter One spokesman William Dupuy said his bank would probably not distribute the sermons.

"If they [customers- plan to withdraw cash, they should make a decision based on sound information - not rumor or speculation," Dupuy said.


National City's Shingler said the sermon does contain some good information about not giving into panic. He also said the clergy can assist banks in spreading the message, but he doesn't think the ABA's approach is the right way. "Some of us here go to clergymen for spiritual advice, and they often go to bankers for banking advice," Shingler said. "Yes, there is room to work together, but personally, I'm not in the business of writing sermons."

Folger said he doesn't believe too many of his colleagues will use the sermon, either.

"Unless they are not prepared for Sunday," he said, laughing.

E-mail: bkawa@plaind.com Phone: (216) 999-4152

)1999 THE PLAIN DEALER

-- Rockafeller Skank (rocky2k@x-networks.net), August 28, 1999

Answers

Just when you think the shills have hit rock bottom they do something like this. Simply unbelievable.

-- Rockafeller Skank (rocky2k@x-networks.net), August 28, 1999.

So... the Bankers Assoc. who has been badmouthing religious groups for months, suddenly decides that they should start writing sermons. And they dig up a speech writer who "once worked in a Navy chaplain's office"???? Now if this happened in my sleepy little rural town, at my locally owned Ralph's Bank and Trust, I would think it was stupid but harmless. But this wasn't Ralph's Bank and Trust.. it was the American Bankers Association for crissake!!! Is there something hallucinogenic in the ink on those new Monopoly money twenties? Is it not SCARY that this is the reasoning level of the people we give entrust our money to? Sheeze! Yes I know the story is several days old, but it still just amazes me.

In God we trust.

All others pay and hold cash.

-- Linda (lwmb@psln.com), August 28, 1999.


The public is pretty dumb, but they know a rat when they smell one...

At this rate the ABA will guarantee bank runs as a self-fulfilling prophecy...

-- Andy (2000EOD@prodigy.net), August 28, 1999.


I am too shocked to think of the implications.

-- Dian (bdp@accessunited.com), August 29, 1999.

Let's put this 1938 Orson Welles War of the Worlds urban legend to an end. I often wondered about these reports of widespread mass panic. So I went to the library and looked at the archives of my local newspapers for Nov 1, 1938.

I actually found a story. It said that a farmer or two in some New Jersey area phoned authorities, wondering if the story were true. They locked away their livestock and battened down the hatches. ALl understandable, since they trusted the media, and the veracity of the pseudodocumentary, for those who heard it, was indeed confusing.

That's it. No mass panic in the streets. A totally bogus urban legend, based on some wire story about a couple of unamed individuals the paper was laughing at. Who knows if the two rubes even existed, and weren't dreamed up by some clerks in an office somewhere?

You'd think someone, somewhere would actually research their claims.

-- Spanky (nospam@spamfree.net), August 29, 1999.



IMHO any preacher who would feed his congregation a canned sermon from the bankers' association should find another line of work.

And any depositer who finds out his banker is going around using the clergy as his propagandists should ask for his money back. (That's assuming that his bank has a "money back guarantee".

gene

-- gene (ekbaker@essex1.com), August 29, 1999.


My pastor would only use it for comic relief!

The last (hopefully!) desperate act of a group with their backs against the wall...

-- Mad Monk (madmonk@hawaiian.net), August 29, 1999.


"As I understand it, Mr. Kemp is simply suggesting we take precautionary measures to provide an anchor for our currency and all the world currencies that wish to link with the dollar in order to simplify financial transactions and record-keeping. The simple fact of the matter is that the global banking network, which not long ago relied on calculators and pen-and-ink ledgers, is now completely reliant on computers. "Money" is now largely electronic. Even if our financial markets are the most Y2K compliant in the world, a breakdown anywhere in this incredibly complex system may feed back to us in ways we cannot foresee or imagine. We need to think through what steps we can take right now to ensure the integrity of this system."

Dan Quayle...

At least one of 'em is a GI...

-- Andy (2000EOD@prodigy.net), August 30, 1999.


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