{"id":25187,"date":"2014-10-24T18:26:34","date_gmt":"2014-10-24T22:26:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/?p=25187"},"modified":"2014-10-24T18:26:34","modified_gmt":"2014-10-24T22:26:34","slug":"evangelicals-notice-predatory-lending-agree-its-bad","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2014\/10\/24\/evangelicals-notice-predatory-lending-agree-its-bad\/","title":{"rendered":"Evangelicals notice predatory lending, agree it’s Bad"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

The National Association of Evangelicals has come out against predatory lending and payday loans<\/a>. That\u2019s good! Yay NAE!<\/em><\/p>\n

The NAE<\/a> is an umbrella group representing dozens of small Protestant denominations and more than 45,000 churches. These are white evangelical folk, so they tend to be very politically conservative. Or, rather, they tend to define their faith in terms that are politically conservative \u2014 their religious identity<\/em> is both political and conservative. What that often means in practice is that they double-check their impulses and instincts to ensure they\u2019re not getting out of line with orthodox conservative politics.<\/p>\n

\"Payday\"<\/a>As I often note here, most of these folks are Very Nice People \u2014 far more like Ned Flanders than like James Dobson (even though, inexplicably, they mostly like Dobson). And like most Very Nice People, when they begin to understand the facts of predatory lending \u2014 to see the outrageous interest rates and cascading fees forced upon the poor and defenseless \u2014 they think it seems wrong<\/em>. As in,\u00a0there ought to be a law against it<\/em> wrong.<\/p>\n

Yet when they double-check to see if this is an acceptable reaction, they find that this view has been framed as dangerously liberal. It\u2019s something championed by Satanic baby-killers like Elizabeth Warren and Eric Holder, and agreeing with people like that can get you in a lot of trouble in the white evangelical world.<\/p>\n

So the first Good Thing about the NAE\u2019s resolution against predatory lending is that it gives members of the white evangelical tribe permission<\/em> to be against predatory lending. It tells them that this is an issue on which they are allowed to view government action and legal regulation favorably, and that this is an issue on which they are permitted to agree with liberals without risking demerits on their permanent record.<\/p>\n

The resolution itself is short and rather vague. That\u2019s by design. Here\u2019s the key part:<\/p>\n

The NAE calls on lenders to design loan products that do not exploit poor and vulnerable borrowers. We call on the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to investigate predatory lending abuses and to establish just regulations that protect consumers, particularly the most poor and vulnerable among us, from exploitation.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

That bit about the CFPB sounds a bit like it was written by someone who\u2019s never heard of the agency and imagines they\u2019re inventing the idea of it. It\u2019s a bit like someone calling on NASA to begin exploring space with, like, rockets and telescopes and stuff.<\/p>\n

But the vague generality of that makes this resolution more useful when it comes to its primary function. Most denominations and interdenominational associations have a resolutions process something like the NAE\u2019s because these organizations also have a governmental affairs office. In other words, they have lobbyists \u2014 professional employees in Washington, DC, whose job it is to influence policy makers on behalf of the organization.<\/p>\n

Those lobbyists are authorized to speak on behalf of the organization and on behalf of all of its members. As such, they\u2019re only permitted to address \u201cissues\u201d that the organization and its members have taken an official position on.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s why, for example, the introduction of laws intended to stop human trafficking produced a volley of denominational resolutions putting those groups on record in support of legal efforts to oppose\u00a0human trafficking. Without such resolutions, the lobbyists representing those groups and their members were not empowered to support such legislation.<\/p>\n

So now the NAE\u2019s executives have permission to speak out in support of the CFPB when it investigates predatory lending and now the NAE\u2019s government relations people are authorized to support \u201cjust regulations that protect consumers, particularly the most poor and vulnerable among us, from exploitation.\u201d And that\u2019s all good.<\/p>\n

NAE\u2019s resolution<\/a> also includes some language about what local congregations can do to address the problem of predatory lending:<\/p>\n

Most families experience emergency needs from time to time. Churches, charities and employers can and do help with gifts or loans in times of personal crisis.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

That\u2019s good \u2014 such \u201cgifts and loans\u201d can, indeed, keep desperate people from having to turn to the legal loan sharks who might otherwise\u00a0provide the $200 needed in an unforeseen emergency, but will claw back $2,000 for the privilege.<\/p>\n

I also like that the NAE doesn\u2019t just commend the practice of extending such gifts and loans to churches and charities. They also say this is something that employers<\/em> should do to respond to people in need. I\u2019d like to hear that preached in more pulpits.<\/p>\n

But he NAE\u2019s other piece of advice for local congregations is, alas, less helpful:<\/p>\n

They can also offer financial literacy classes and model the virtues of disciplined saving, delayed gratification and investment for future needs.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

It\u2019s possible<\/em> to promote financial literacy without descending into a cluelessly cruel form of victim-blaming. You can usually tell who\u2019s getting that right because they don\u2019t use the words \u201cfinancial literacy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Poor people do not need to be taught anything about \u201cdelayed gratification.\u201d Poor people know more about delayed gratification than any rich person will ever understand. The poor are not poor because they lack \u201cvirtues.\u201d The poor are poor because they lack money<\/em>.<\/p>\n

This part of NAE\u2019s resolution veers into nasty\u00a0Dave Ramsey territory<\/a>. Sure, predatory lending is bad, too, yesbutofcourse<\/em>, but did you see what those poor people were wearing?<\/em> They brought this on themselves. Sigh<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Fortunately, that odious little aside is tangential to the main purpose and function of the NAE\u2019s resolution. That main purpose, again, is that the group\u2019s executives and lobbyists and members have now given themselves permission to support \u201cjust regulations that protect consumers.\u201d<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s hoping they will.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The first Good Thing about the NAE’s resolution against predatory lending is that it gives members of the white evangelical tribe permission to be against predatory lending. 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A former managing editor of Prism magazine, Fred worked in the parachurch nonprofit world for a decade and then for a decade in the newspaper biz. He began blogging in 2002. In 2003 he began writing a review of the best-selling Left Behind series. Eight years later he still hasn\u2019t finished reviewing the second book of that series and the experience has left him a broken shell of a man. Fred knows the difference between the possessive \u201cits\u201d and the contraction \u201cit\u2019s,\u201d and he is acutely bothered when others mistakenly confuse the two, yet he himself just kind of instinctively types the apostrophe whether or not it belongs there. Some feel this is his greatest hypocrisy, but those who know him better know better. He\u2019s guilty of much greater hypocrisies. Jesus loves Fred far more than Fred loves Jesus, but he at least has the decency to recognize the unfairness of that lopsided relationship and he has long wished that he were better at maybe kind of sort of doing something more to correct that some day. A Baptist, an amateur, a Gen-Xer, a Gemini and a Mets fan, Fred lives in Southeastern Pennsylvania with his wife and two teenage daughters. You can reach him via email at slacktivist at hotmail dot com.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/author\/fredclark1\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Evangelicals notice predatory lending, agree it's Bad","description":"The first Good Thing about the NAE's resolution against predatory lending is that it gives members of the white evangelical tribe permission to be against predatory lending. 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A former managing editor of Prism magazine, Fred worked in the parachurch nonprofit world for a decade and then for a decade in the newspaper biz. He began blogging in 2002. In 2003 he began writing a review of the best-selling Left Behind series. Eight years later he still hasn\u2019t finished reviewing the second book of that series and the experience has left him a broken shell of a man. Fred knows the difference between the possessive \u201cits\u201d and the contraction \u201cit\u2019s,\u201d and he is acutely bothered when others mistakenly confuse the two, yet he himself just kind of instinctively types the apostrophe whether or not it belongs there. Some feel this is his greatest hypocrisy, but those who know him better know better. He\u2019s guilty of much greater hypocrisies. Jesus loves Fred far more than Fred loves Jesus, but he at least has the decency to recognize the unfairness of that lopsided relationship and he has long wished that he were better at maybe kind of sort of doing something more to correct that some day. A Baptist, an amateur, a Gen-Xer, a Gemini and a Mets fan, Fred lives in Southeastern Pennsylvania with his wife and two teenage daughters. 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