yawn. This seems kinda stupid.

My guess is that it's just that these places thrive in highly Republican states, since those states would be more likely to have lax regulations and lax enforcement from state attorney general offices, etc. Conservative Christians vote Republican because so many are single issue voters.

I'm not surprised, based on the correlation between crazy christians and dummies. Just kidding, God, please don't hurt me.

causation does not equal correlation. this post seems a little too political for my taste. left wing schadenfreude.

Yet another reason it's so great living in Connecticut...actually, probably the only reason.

I grew up right in the middle of the most "dotted" part of that map in a large city and it's most decidedly "blue" in terms of political power. The Democrats have been the majority for decades upon decades. This is also a heavy "fundamentalist" area yet the voting doesn't often reflect that. Of course Southern Democratic political beliefs are going to be different than East Coast Democratic political beliefs. Just throwing that out there....

Also, I really have to wonder about the poverty link. Or more to the point, the link between blue collar earners and payday loans.

As for usury law and the bible, outside of strict fundamentalist groups, not many average Christians follow the bible literally.

@johnva: thats a great point. on a lighter note, according to the map, it would appear that much of california's highway 5 is paved with the broken dreams of those who frequent the payday lenders. spooky!

It just shows there is a difference between people who know they can afford something or think they can afford something.

This is not really surprising since the majority of conservative Christians are Republican and Republicans support getting rich off poor peop--I mean capitalism.

Where payday lenders set up shop does not mean Christian = payday lender suckers. In a lot of ways, Christianity in the South can also be seen as a movement of faith and of culture. You go to church because you believe, but it is also a social network and support system. A lot of people see their church as a way of finding help, support and care, whether emotional support or physical by way of donations.

Payday lenders are leeches upon the desperate. Whether they are Christians or not makes no difference. I'd like to see another map, showing the crime rates around the country and crossing them with payday lenders. I don't know what they would be for the South, but in a lot of areas, access to easy crime may replace the need for a payday lender agreement. In a town of 3,000, it's probably not very easy to steal a TV and pawn it, but if you need money right now, payday lending would be available.

Wait stupid people are more likely to be republican, poor, and religious? No way!

Bon Jovi said it best: "Livin' on a Prayer"

What I'm not buying is the "Christian Power Index." How was that developed? How did they decide that, for example, Tennessee is at the opposite end of their scale from Arkansas? The article doesn't provide information on that half of the information.

I am really surprised South Dakota doesn't peg higher on that map. We have tons of these payday lenders and we are pretty much a usury buffet with no state laws left against it.

What seems to be the typical profile of the local christian conservative here is that they are Republican because of culture warrior issues, they are also anti taxation and totally for free market with no oversight. They also tend to have no concern for the poor and see it as standard operating procedure, this usually also goes hand and hand with a desire to disband all welfare type programs.

So I see this as a plausible connection.

@UpsetPanda: I think you would find that population density is the best indicator of crime rates. In fact, you seem to recognize that. But this idea that crime is an alternative to payday loans in funny. Unless there is some correlation between payday loans and drug addiction. Most petty crime is committed by addicts.

How do they explain the near absence of these lenders in the very populous Northeast?

Sorry, I've got to call BS on this. First off, I question the validity of some of their "Christian Power Index" calculations. Georgia and North Carolina are ranked on the lowest level of the scale? I'm from the south and that doesn't make any sense to me.

Regardless of that though, if you look at the graph, the states that are marked as having a low "Christian Power Index" that have no payday lenders are [brace yourself] THE STATES THAT DO NOT ALLOW PAYDAY LENDING!! When you take that into consideration, basically all you see is a simple breakdown of population density across the country and no religious correlation at all.

My argument is not to support payday lenders, or christians (I don't support either), mainly just to point out that this study is complete crap.

it explains a lot on why they love deficit spending.

If one took out a loan and was subsequently raptured...

If one was to take out a loan and was subsequently raptured...

@Dustin Earnhardt:
It's a case of an academic leftist developing a "Christian Power Index" to suit his very biased viewpoint.

There is little doubt the distribution of payday lenders is most influenced by state regulation first and low-income residents second.

Disregard the previous post. I thought it had been eaten by a comment gnome.

Anyone else think this is obvious?

@tozmervo: Good point. After all, Arkansas had a Baptist preacher governor who still has some national political power. I'd expect a stronger correlation from the number of illegal immigrants or military bases.

I lived in Alabama for four years and can verify this.In some towns,it seems as if there's one of these places on every corner.

@Mr. Gunn: Very Obvious

@Dustin Earnhardt: Lol, I was going to point this out as well.

This study is kind of useless, since lots of states don't allow for payday lending.

I do like the fact that it suggests christians are stupid though. I've always held that to be a loosely true relationship. I guess my search for factual evidence continues. So far, all I've come up with is the fact that I bought my second xbox 360 from a guy on craigslist who "gave it up for lent". Whatever that means. Don't you usually start back up once easter comes around?

Wow, just wow. As one who lives in the Chicago area it is quite obvious that neither the purveyors, or the users, of payday loans at least around here, are predominantly "conservative Christians". This article really does not merit space on the Consumerist site. Do ya think it may be just the teensiest bit agenda driven?

But for those who can still think straight---- how does google earth know who are the liberal Christians versus the conservative Christians? How did the "conservative right" suddenly become synonymous with Christian right? And how to account for all those fine folk in the "Bible Belt" (whatever that is) who are not of the Christian faith, or who consider themselves Democrats/liberal Christians? What a crock.

For a party (and ideology) that's actively hostile towards ideas - or at least ideas that can't be expressed on a bumper sticker - I'm not surprised. I'll bet if you measured geographically likelihood that a state is prone to believe that 1) Saddam was responsible for 9/11, or 2) magical fairies (sorry, a magical bearded guy in a robe) created the Universe or 3) an unfettered marketplace trumps selective, judicious regulation in overall growth and happiness.

Or, more concisely: stupid is as stupid does.

By the gods, if these yahoos' shoes weren't velcro-ed to the ground, they'd be arguing the Theory of Gravity is "just a theory".

dumb=dumb=dumb.

@m4ximusprim3:
"I do like the fact that it suggests christians are stupid though."

I don't like that at all, and I'm a Jew. It is very simply, intolerance for the beliefs of others. Do you think bigotry is a good thing?

@MissTic: no surprise: cities are atypical of Conservative areas. Having to interface with, you know, the real world tends to mitigate against mediaeval impulses.

Outside of strict fundamentalists, few Christians follow the bible literally.
Want to know a little secret? The strict Fundamentalists don't follow the Bible all that carefully either. They're simply into loud self-proclamations, pointing fingers, then skipping whichever portions of The Bible are inconvenient. Words over actions. Sort of like Republicans in general - talk loudly, then do opposite.

Its sad. Here in Missouri.... even in the decent neighborhoods there is now the odd payday loan business. It didnt used to be this way years ago. Back then they were only in the poor neighborhoods.

I hate those predatory lending places. Pure evil IMO.

@ClayS: The day a Jewish Governor addresses a major, state-wide drought by having a Day of Prayer rather than adopting water conservation measures, watch me become anti-Semitic. Of course, that'd never happen since (insert positive stereotype about Jews valuing education here). :)

This story is silly and lazy. This has nothing to do with religion or politics and the idea that someone would try to make the connection in the first place is suspect.

As much as I would like to throw some groups (ie Religious Conservatives) under the bus for something or another, and their may be an argument for HOW it got to be such a popular service and why there is limited regulation, but it would appear that, more than anything, this is a matter of populate density, not religion. The best example is seen in southern Cali, the bay area,the northern valley along I5 and along I5 into Oregon and Washington.

Another problem is they are looking at the whole state vs the area where the lenders are actually located -- ya know, where people live). And, though I don't really want to point this out, in the interest of intellectual honesty; the more densely populated areas tend to be more liberal.

Another problem we have with this data is the lack of lenders in the north east. Certainly they would be there if they were allowed. I also questions they way they ranked this; how could Georgia, North Carolina and West Virginia be ranked the same as New York, Mass, PA, etc..? That seems questionable to me.

You could probably do the same thing with fast food restaurants, car dealerships, or Outlet Malls. Though the North East would be included and provided more useful data.

Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe GOD is letting this happen -- ya know, with his "mysterious ways" and all.

@Trai_Dep: Its not like the prayer day was the only thing Georgia did. We have huge watering restrictions and all of our counties have cut water usage 15-35%

I live in Portland, OR, and there are lots of payday lenders here. I would not consider this area either the Mormon West nor Conservative Christian-land. And yet look at all those lenders tagged onto that part of the map.

Someone *really* wants to see a link between religion and payday lenders. The map itself clearly shows that it's a combo of population denisty and whether or not individual states even allow payday lending.

@ClayS: I have nothing against their beliefs. They have every right to believe in a giant, celestial santa claus.

What I do think is that people who believe in ideas such as god based on their own desire for order in the universe are probably prone to tricking themselves into believing all sorts of other nonsense which has no basis in reality either. Just because something makes you feel good or safe doesn't mean it's true. Millions of people lose millions of dollars every year to people who sell them crap because it makes them feel good.

Or, to use another term, are stupid.

@Scuba Steve: Really? I stand corrected. From the way the media cover it here in California (we know a thing or two about droughts and over-development), the papers seemed to suggest that Georgia's approach to solving their drought was simply prayer. Thanks, I learned something today!

I don't think it's surprising... the more educated you are, the less likely you are to be strongly religious. so the strongly religious are more likely to be duped by payday loans.

[kspark.kaist.ac.kr]

not surprising. there is a correlation between education and religion. the more educated you are, the less likely to be religious. hence, also more likely to be duped by payday.

[kspark.kaist.ac.kr]

dammit. my comment never showed up so I tried again and now it magically appears.

Perhaps the reason that Georgia and N Carolina are shaded more lightly than one might think is that they both have metropolises in them? That'd go a far way to mitigating the - well - rank ignorance.

And, while I snark at The South in general, I realize that there are great, independent-minded people there. Even if a cruelly persecuted minority. :D

I suggest that all of you read the actual study (linked to above on the SSRN page). I just skimmed it, and, as usual, the authors don't even come close to making the claims that you all seem to think they're making.

As a formally-trained social scientist, I've seen too many times that people will almost always completely miss the point of a study (often with the help of the media). People will project their own biases onto the results and irrationally dismiss or exaggerate the study's findings.

At face value, there are a lot of alternative explanations for these findings, and the authors take the time to deal with those alternatives in the actual article.

That being said, however, law reviews are typically not peer-reviewed (I've published in both social science and law journals, and there is a big difference), and so this article should be taken at face value: a collection of interesting data.

I did get this out of my liberal arts undergraduate degree: correlation=/= causality. everything else is a blur

Payday Lenders are from heaven. :P