Thou Shalt Not Steal?

It's interesting how many people feel attacked by this article....kinda funny actually. It's not that complex of a correlation to notice. Before I even read the article, I looked at the graphic. It's a pretty easy concept to digest. Weird, look at how the credit issuers are concentrated in the states that have the highest concetration of people who believe Jesus was noble for freaking out at the money-changers on the temple steps. Just kind of ironic and UNEXPECTED. If it were expected it would have been an article that appeared next to the article explaining that the sun rose in the east today.....just like yesterday!

Absolutely irresponsible, an unveiled attack against Christianity. Summary of the article: "we just dug up this statistical oddity and have no idea about what it may mean, but it kind of looks like an opportunity to throw mud and Christians, so here goes". You take what is clearly a statistical artifact and run with it to utter nonsense--"conservative Wall Street", abortion, etc. Pure idiocy. Shame on you. Your ignorance is as obvious as your clear disdain for Christians.

Interesting article with valid points. But Newsweek's graphic is misleading and exaggerates the problem. Look at those circles purporting to show "Mormons and Evangelicals per 1,000 people". The circle for 1,000 is twice as high as the circle for 500, which means it's FOUR TIMES as big in area. Think of those circles as pies and you'll see it right away.

Interesting article with valid points. But Newsweek's graphic is misleading and exaggerates the problem. Look at those circles purporting to show "Mormons and Evangelicals per 1,000 people". The circle for 1,000 is twice as high as the circle for 500, which means it's FOUR TIMES as big in area. Think of those circles as pies and you'll see it right away.

Pharisees, Hypocrites. Your fake Christianity is exposed and aren't you fuming. How about a few crucifixions to take your mind of it!

Hum, let's see: 1) To get a 'payday' loan, you must have a job. 2) There are a lot of Christians in the area. 3) Christians have jobs. So we can conclude from this article that Athiests don't have jobs...

Since there is no statistical proof given that conservative Christians own these businesses or benefit for the excessive usury fees in any way, how is it the only conclusion arrived at in this article is the conservative Christians are responsible for or at fault for this problem?

Given this correlation couldn???t it logical to conclude that these unscrupulous lenders are taking advantage of that conservative Christian population? I mean, if the article had found a correlation between, say, a high population of children under 15 and payday lenders, would the conclusion have been that the children are responsible? How about if there would be a high correlation between immigrants and payday lenders? Would the immigrants be responsible?

And why look at race or religion or sex in order to find these correlations? What do those factors have to do with the knowledge or ability to handle money? Did the study look at the correlation between education levels and the amount payday lenders? How about the availability and usability of banks?

If you want to conclude that conservative Christians are *responsible* for this injustice, all it takes is *proof*. Otherwise this is just prejudicial claptrap.

If the law allows usury/payday loan businesses, then they will locate to any area with a perceived need. I would find it more interesting to see a study of payday loan customers, not the calculated religious ideology of an entire state. Where, geographically, are these payday loan offices located? Urban core, suburbia, or rural areas? What are the demographics of those areas? What is the education level where the offices are concentrated? Many more interesting questions that aren't answered. If there is a causal relationship between conservative Christians and payday lenders and not simply a statistical correlation, when did the area become predominately "conservative Christian"? I, also, have issues with the statistical analysis and study methodology when it is stated that Maine has one of the highest interest rates in the country but reportedly no payday lenders? Does that mean that residents of Maine are simply stupid and pay the highest interest rates in the land on "normal" non-payday loans? I think we should also be told how many loans are being made, the demographic make-up of those taking the loans and the loans-per-office statistics. Is the interest rate per state measured on a weighted average basis or a simple average basis? These are all interesting questions which are not addressed in the article, so it is difficult to give much credence to the sensationalist op-ed piece (can't be a news article since the authors bias is blatant).

There are a couple of ways for a business to compensate for the perceived credit worthiness of a potential client, one is restricting credit and the other is to offset default risk with a higher interest rate. If you restrict credit, the business is slammed for not helping the poor. If you charge a high interest rate, you can be slammed for usery. I think that APR's should never exceed a fixed margin over or multiple of LIBOR or 10 Year T-Notes (pick an index). If the default risk is assessed to be greater than that spread, then credit should be restricted.

I just wonder if those that call Christians "hypocrits" realize that it takes a set of moral values to be a hypocrit. There are only two types of people that fall into the "not a hypocrit" definition, those that have no moral values and....well, I guess it would have to be the Supreme Being (whichever one(s) you believe in).

how did this guy come up with this? it seems to have directly targeted the conservative christian base. it is deserving of comment only for its seemingly contrived correllation of the two subjects. what about Hispanics or african americans or asians or any other sub group? church of Latvia, satanists?

This is one of the most biased and ridiculous articles I have ever read. Not only is claiming there is a relation between ???payday lenders and conservative Christians??? reckless, it is prejudicial given the pitiful findings presented. This is not supported by any scientific or factual investigation presented in the article, just presumption and generalization on the values of people living in given area. No social scientist or responsible member of the media, nor responsible publisher, should stand behind such a flimsy and shoddy piece of ???journalism??? or ???science???. But then the media can make any claim about Christians, try rewriting this article and insert any other religious, social, or ethnic group and see the outrage that ensues. Consequently, the ???evidence??? presented in this article could be used to justify any number of sub-groups that live in the maligned states, and be as true or significant as the original.

Dubious? I think it's obvious. republican/bigbusiness/conservatism - which translates in money for me because it's my god given right to be rich at the expense of the godless heathens.

The correlation is dubious. What isn't explained in this article is how the study authors precisely created their index of "conservative Christian clout." With a minimum of effort one could create any sort of far-fetched index and have it appear to be the manipulating factor behind all of society's ills. Furthermore, the author's hypothesis that this correlation is the result of the GOP unification of religious right voters and fiscal conservatives is presented as an allegation without evidence.

It's no surprise that payday lending doesn't correlate exactly to poverty; but what it probably DOES correlate most closely to is poverty and crime, in that high rates of both poverty and crime in an area will generally lead to a higher concentration of payday lenders. This is purely a guess on my part, but I'd bet it would hold more water, scientifically speaking, than a correlation between these lenders and Christian clout.

Correlations don't prove much of anything. Saying there is a link between payday lenders and conservative Christians is like saying there is a link between having 8 appendeges and being a spider--it's true, but there are more factors to consider. Having 8 appendages does not make you a spider--octopi, etc, also have 8 appendeges. Some of the poorest states have the highest number of payday lenders. The rest, I fail to see how it is statistically significant. Either it is illegal, or there doesn't seem to be much difference in the rest, as there are different sized circles in the same color scheme except in those red states. Which also happen to be some of the poorest in the nation. I don't see what difference it makes anyways. In the north, there is colder weather where there are fewer conservative Christians. So what?

If your trying to make a connection between Christians and payday lending, I think you have missed the point. In fact the only thing I got out of the article was the fact that deregulation was one of the contributing factors to the increase of companies taking advantage of a persons lack of income to make predatory loans. When you cut to the chase, what it really boils down to is a matter of greed.

I think the point of the article is that politics may be making strange bedfellows.

Am I missing something here? I keep looking at this article expecting to see some statistic or substantiation regarding the religious/political views of payday lenders. Perhaps Newsweek and the Center for Responsible Lending should instead be more concerned for Responsible Journalism and Responsible Research. What kind of straw man is this? What about the correlation to Casinos and gaming found in these same states? I certainly don???t buy into your witch hunt.

Am I missing something here? I keep looking at this article expecting to see some statistic or substantiation regarding the religious/political views of payday lenders. Perhaps Newsweek and the Center for Responsible Lending should instead be more concerned for Responsible Journalism and Responsible Research. What kind of straw man is this? What about the correlation to Casinos and gaming found in these same states? I certainly don???t buy into your witch hunt.

There is a CD by the group DC Talk and before one of the songs begins they say how tha biggest cause of athiesm is christians who profess Christ with their mouths but go out and deny Him by the wya they live their lives. As in all groups, races, religions, political groups, waht ever...there are good and bad ones. It all comes down to what is inside each individual on judgement day, not what your affilialtes were like, your church or your politacal leaders. No one will enter Heaven clinging to the shirt tail of another individual, no matter how righteous they were. That is why Christ told us over and over again to leave judgenent to God and our only duty as christians is to love one another, and includes gay, straights, liars, cheats, republicanns,democrats...you get the picture. Love them and leave judgement to God. The truth is, as a christian I know people who have never set foot in achurch who are more worthy of Heaven than certian indivuduals who brag they have never missed a service in 30 years. READ the BIble, know it and live how you are instructed. THat's all.