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Kickin' Ass and Takin' Names
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http://www.ethicsdaily.com/article_detail.cfm?AID=10114
Payday Lenders Boom Where Conservative Christians Exercise Political
Power
Robert Parham
02-20-08
The predatory practice of payday lenders flourishes in the Bible Belt,
the very place where one would think that the piety and morality of
church goers would oppose such ventures that charge the poor
exorbitant interest rates exceeding those of "the old mafia loan
sharking syndicates." That is not the case, according to a new study
that maps the correlation of payday lenders and conservative
Christians.
Written by Christopher Peterson, a law school professor at the
University of Florida, and Steven Graves, an associate professor of
geography at California State University, Northridge, "Usury Law and
the Christian Right" will be published in the spring in the Catholic
University Law Review. However, the study is now available to
download.
http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1092006#PaperDownload
"Our study systematically surveys over 20,000 payday lender locations,
cast against a backdrop of Christian political power, local and
regional electoral districts, and a variety of demographic
considerations," wrote Peterson and Graves.
"We conclude with a high degree of statistical certainty that states
with powerful conservative Christian populations tend to host
relatively greater numbers of payday loan locations per capita as well
as a greater commercial density of payday lenders," they said.
Calling their findings "a tragic and sad irony," Peterson and Graves
said: "Those states that have most ardently held to their pious
Christian traditions have tended to become more infested with the
progeny of money changers once expelled by Christ from the Hebrew
temple. Legislators in those states who have effectively used Biblical
principles to shape their legislative agenda on social and cultural
issues have failed to consistently apply Biblical principles to
economic legislation."
Payday lending is a practice that requires minimal credit check on
borrowers and a post-dated check for the amount of the cash loan plus
the interest charged due in one to two weeks. More often than not,
borrowers are unable to repay their loan when it comes due and slide
into deeper debt.
For example, a $325 loan, due in two weeks, would carry a finance
charge of $52. However, the average payday borrower ends up paying an
estimated $793 on a $325 loan, according to the study.
"The political power of Conservative Christians within a state is a
better predictor of payday lending severity than either race or
poverty," Peterson and Graves wrote. "Of the thirty ZIP codes most
saturated with payday lending in the United States, all but three are
located in one of fifteen most conservative Christian states."
Three Bible Belt states came under special scrutiny. One was Alabama,
which the study ranked first in the nation for the "political power of
conservative Christian Americans." Even though Alabamians voted for so-
called conservative biblical values, Alabama Christians "stood
essentially idle while the state developed one of the very worst
usurious lending problems in the country."
Second only to Alabama in the political power of conservative
Christians, Mississippi has the "highest density of payday lending of
any state." One congressional district has more payday lenders than
banks. "Hinds County alone has more payday lenders than all of
Minnesota," found the study.
The authors praised North Carolina, a state with "solid Christian
credentials," for re-imposing "traditional Biblical values in their
consumer financial services markets." They wrote, "After nearly seven
years of aggressive enforcement efforts...North Carolina...appears to once
again be largely free of payday lending operations."
The study contains an appendix with detailed information about the
usury law in every other state.
The widespread practice of charging astronomical interest rates on
loans made to the poor runs counter to the biblical injunction against
usury, which is condemned along with the shedding blood, extorting and
forgetting God (Ezekiel 22:12).
In a clear passage to the freed Hebrew slaves, God said through Moses:
"If you lend money to my people, to the poor among you, you shall not
deal with them as a creditor; you shall not exact interest from them.
If you take your neighbor's cloak in pawn, you shall restore it before
the sun goes down; for it may be your neighbor's only clothing to use
as cover; in what else shall that person sleep" (Exodus 22:25-27)?
Not only does the Bible reject the excessive interest of the payday
lenders, but the Bible speaks repeatedly about protecting the poor,
the orphan, the widow and the stranger in the land.
Given the clarity of the biblical witness and the crippling reality of
payday lenders, some Baptists are addressing the issue.
Religious Herald editor Jim White encouraged Virginia Baptists last
fall to urge state legislators to place a cap on the interest rate
payday lenders can charge. White called payday lending a "great
injustice" and called a cap on interest charged "the least we can
do."
White returned to payday lending in a January editorial, beseeching
readers to contact their representatives supporting specific pieces of
legislation that would cap payday lending. He wrote that these bills
"will not eliminate the suffering of the poor. But, it will end one
way the oppressed are being further impoverished."
The Baptist General Association of Virginia spoke out against payday
lending in a November 2007 resolution, denouncing "the payday lending
industry and its practice of further impoverishing the poor."
BGAV's Christian Life Committee members have contacted their own
legislators, supporting reforms in payday lending. The committee is
now preparing a report to present to Virginia Baptists that will
identify the negative impacts on families of predatory lending and
offer steps for advocacy.
The committee is also interfacing with the Virginia Interfaith Center
for Public Policy, which has a campaign to combat payday lenders,
including a pledge for action designed to lobby state legislators.
BGAV is clearly the moral exception among Baptist state conventions.
Most appear so morally malnourished that payday lenders flourish and
impoverish the poor.
What was it that the Hebrew prophet Micah said that the Lord required?
That's right--"to do justice"--the very thing too many seek to avoid.
Robert Parham is executive director of the Baptist Center for Ethics.
Payday Lenders Boom Where Conservative Christians Exercise Political
Power
Robert Parham
02-20-08
The predatory practice of payday lenders flourishes in the Bible Belt,
the very place where one would think that the piety and morality of
church goers would oppose such ventures that charge the poor
exorbitant interest rates exceeding those of "the old mafia loan
sharking syndicates." That is not the case, according to a new study
that maps the correlation of payday lenders and conservative
Christians.
Written by Christopher Peterson, a law school professor at the
University of Florida, and Steven Graves, an associate professor of
geography at California State University, Northridge, "Usury Law and
the Christian Right" will be published in the spring in the Catholic
University Law Review. However, the study is now available to
download.
http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1092006#PaperDownload
"Our study systematically surveys over 20,000 payday lender locations,
cast against a backdrop of Christian political power, local and
regional electoral districts, and a variety of demographic
considerations," wrote Peterson and Graves.
"We conclude with a high degree of statistical certainty that states
with powerful conservative Christian populations tend to host
relatively greater numbers of payday loan locations per capita as well
as a greater commercial density of payday lenders," they said.
Calling their findings "a tragic and sad irony," Peterson and Graves
said: "Those states that have most ardently held to their pious
Christian traditions have tended to become more infested with the
progeny of money changers once expelled by Christ from the Hebrew
temple. Legislators in those states who have effectively used Biblical
principles to shape their legislative agenda on social and cultural
issues have failed to consistently apply Biblical principles to
economic legislation."
Payday lending is a practice that requires minimal credit check on
borrowers and a post-dated check for the amount of the cash loan plus
the interest charged due in one to two weeks. More often than not,
borrowers are unable to repay their loan when it comes due and slide
into deeper debt.
For example, a $325 loan, due in two weeks, would carry a finance
charge of $52. However, the average payday borrower ends up paying an
estimated $793 on a $325 loan, according to the study.
"The political power of Conservative Christians within a state is a
better predictor of payday lending severity than either race or
poverty," Peterson and Graves wrote. "Of the thirty ZIP codes most
saturated with payday lending in the United States, all but three are
located in one of fifteen most conservative Christian states."
Three Bible Belt states came under special scrutiny. One was Alabama,
which the study ranked first in the nation for the "political power of
conservative Christian Americans." Even though Alabamians voted for so-
called conservative biblical values, Alabama Christians "stood
essentially idle while the state developed one of the very worst
usurious lending problems in the country."
Second only to Alabama in the political power of conservative
Christians, Mississippi has the "highest density of payday lending of
any state." One congressional district has more payday lenders than
banks. "Hinds County alone has more payday lenders than all of
Minnesota," found the study.
The authors praised North Carolina, a state with "solid Christian
credentials," for re-imposing "traditional Biblical values in their
consumer financial services markets." They wrote, "After nearly seven
years of aggressive enforcement efforts...North Carolina...appears to once
again be largely free of payday lending operations."
The study contains an appendix with detailed information about the
usury law in every other state.
The widespread practice of charging astronomical interest rates on
loans made to the poor runs counter to the biblical injunction against
usury, which is condemned along with the shedding blood, extorting and
forgetting God (Ezekiel 22:12).
In a clear passage to the freed Hebrew slaves, God said through Moses:
"If you lend money to my people, to the poor among you, you shall not
deal with them as a creditor; you shall not exact interest from them.
If you take your neighbor's cloak in pawn, you shall restore it before
the sun goes down; for it may be your neighbor's only clothing to use
as cover; in what else shall that person sleep" (Exodus 22:25-27)?
Not only does the Bible reject the excessive interest of the payday
lenders, but the Bible speaks repeatedly about protecting the poor,
the orphan, the widow and the stranger in the land.
Given the clarity of the biblical witness and the crippling reality of
payday lenders, some Baptists are addressing the issue.
Religious Herald editor Jim White encouraged Virginia Baptists last
fall to urge state legislators to place a cap on the interest rate
payday lenders can charge. White called payday lending a "great
injustice" and called a cap on interest charged "the least we can
do."
White returned to payday lending in a January editorial, beseeching
readers to contact their representatives supporting specific pieces of
legislation that would cap payday lending. He wrote that these bills
"will not eliminate the suffering of the poor. But, it will end one
way the oppressed are being further impoverished."
The Baptist General Association of Virginia spoke out against payday
lending in a November 2007 resolution, denouncing "the payday lending
industry and its practice of further impoverishing the poor."
BGAV's Christian Life Committee members have contacted their own
legislators, supporting reforms in payday lending. The committee is
now preparing a report to present to Virginia Baptists that will
identify the negative impacts on families of predatory lending and
offer steps for advocacy.
The committee is also interfacing with the Virginia Interfaith Center
for Public Policy, which has a campaign to combat payday lenders,
including a pledge for action designed to lobby state legislators.
BGAV is clearly the moral exception among Baptist state conventions.
Most appear so morally malnourished that payday lenders flourish and
impoverish the poor.
What was it that the Hebrew prophet Micah said that the Lord required?
That's right--"to do justice"--the very thing too many seek to avoid.
Robert Parham is executive director of the Baptist Center for Ethics.
