Times have changed once more. The thesis of this essay is that looking ahead, the Church may need once more to establish a banking system that can be utilized by its members. Unlike in 1873, the reason is not because there are no banking and financial institutions available: there are plenty in this day and age. No, the reason is because the signs of the times are such that it may come to pass in the not-too-distant future that orthodox Christians of all denominations may be discriminated against in the financial marketplace. There may come a day when someone who hews to the doctrine of the Church of Jesus Christ (CoJC) may find that no bank will have them as a customer, and that no bank will offer them credit in any form, from a credit card to a mortgage. Other financial services, such as the use of PayPal and Venmo, may also be denied them. Now, while it is still possible to do so, and while the Church has immense financial assets allowing it to stabilize such a system, it is advisable to consider the issue.
2) In the US, JP Morgan abruptly cancelled the bank accounts of the leaders of the Proud Boys and other right-wing figures such as Laura Loomer: “Loomer styles herself as the ‘most banned woman in the world.’ In addition to Chase, she is banned from PayPal, from Venmo, from The Cash App, Airbnb and Instagram, from Lyft, Uber and UberEats, from the blogging monetisation platform WordAds and the t-shirt print-to-order site TeeSpring, from Twitter and Facebook — obviously — and from any one of a half dozen other platforms for digital congress . . . But many of those bans are mere cascade effects. TeeSpring works with PayPal. PayPal had already declared Loomer an unperson, and thus they informed TeeSpring that they would have to stop supplying her. Ditto Venmo and The Cash App.” Even more troubling, Loomer won the Republican primary to run for Congress in her home state, but even then could not reverse these summary judgments:
In sum, an individual’s right to conduct financial business in the marketplace is now under clear attack. While most of us would not espouse the views of, say, a Laura Loomer, that is not the point. There should be a basic human right to have a bank account and conduct business. Not even former felons can be denied bank accounts (unless they have written bad checks or engaged in money laundering). Up to this point in time, an individual had to be officially designated a terrorist for such rights to be taken away. No longer; now you merely have to be designated a “hate group” or “member of a hate group” by an entity such as the Southern Poverty Law Center in order for there to be justification for your financial de-personing. I remember when the Southern Poverty Law Center was a reputable institution; those days are gone. When Christian-based advocacy groups such as the Center for Family and Human Rights can be designated a “hate group,” we’ve moved beyond the pale into censorship. But organizations like the SPLC offer “cover” for big corporations to persecute those who do not conform to whatever thinking is currently considered acceptable. Orthodox Christian beliefs are increasingly deemed “unacceptable.” Persecution is coming.
However, you don’t need to have a totalitarian government to pull off a social credit score. All you need are the largest, richest corporate gatekeepers to police the boundaries of social credit—and that is what we see happening in the United States now. While we are all familiar with big technology corporations like Facebook and Twitter coming under fire for suspending social media accounts because they disfavor the views expressed by the account holder, the bigger cudgel is wielded by those further upstream—those who hold the levers of finance and commerce.
It is not difficult to assert that a social credit system is coming into existence in the United States; it is not unlike that pioneered by China, but instead of being enforced by the state, it is being enforced by our largest and most powerful businesses and corporations. In China, one’s every move and purchase is tracked, and vast databases of facial recognition, financial transactions (including late bill-paying), geo-location information, online social media activity (such as how long you play a video game online, or whether you have spread “misinformation”), and behavior resulting in a brush with the law (even smoking in a non-smoking area) are collated each and every day to assign each citizen a “social credit score.” Your score then determines what privileges you have in society. If your score is quite low, you may be barred from purchasing a bus or train or airline ticket, for example, or from buying property or taking out a loan. Your social credit score will be shown to potential employers, and their own social credit scores may fall if they choose to hire you nonetheless. Your children may even be punished for your own low social credit score by being denied entry to certain schools.