Dangerous Politicization Of Banking Industry Against Christians

Apparently, the Biden-Harris administration's Treasury Department has a problem with Florida Governor Ron DeSantis's (R) decision to push back against banking discrimination. On Wednesday, DeSantis signed HB 989, which makes it "unsafe and unsound" for banks to take politics, religious, or environmental, social, and governance (ESG) into account when doing business with customers. 

In other words, the governor is trying to stop the involuntary cancelation of bank accounts, largely targeting conservatives. The "anti-woke" Florida law, however, has come under scrutiny from the Treasury Department.

The Associated Press obtained a copy of the letter from the Treasury Department mapping out its concern that the state's law stopping banks "from considering environmental, social and governance factors could harm efforts to address money laundering and terrorism financing." 

Additionally, Treasury officials stated that "such laws create uncertainty and may inhibit" national security efforts. In response, a coalition of attorneys general, led by Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird (R), fired back that factoring in ESG "before deciding whether to invest is woke behavior gone amok."

The group of 20 Republican attorneys general signed and sent a letter defending the Florida law to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, explaining, "We write to express our serious objections to your department's recent letter characterizing state laws attempting to protect individuals from de-banking as harmful to national security."

It continued, "Some of our States already have such laws on the books. Others are considering enacting them. But all of us oppose this latest attempt by the Biden-Harris Administration to fearmonger and stoke confusion about state laws to advance activists' extreme agendas. That is why we, the Attorneys General of Florida, Iowa, and eighteen other states, write to you today to stand against your radical approach to state laws promoting responsible money management and protecting consumers from discrimination."

The Washington Stand reported last year that "members of conservative or religious groups" were increasingly being expelled from financial institutions such as JPMorgan Chase & Company. And it seems the concerns from last year have only grown. As the state law enforcers summarized, "The Treasury Department has once again forsaken its statutory role and instead chosen to intervene on behalf of activists seeking to hijack the financial system for their political ends."

Ryan Bangert, senior vice president for strategic initiatives at Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), joined guest host and former Congressman Jody Hice on Tuesday's episode of "Washington Watch" to discuss the growing problem. Through his work at ADF, Bangert has witnessed debanking firsthand. He discussed one of ADF's clients, Indigenous Advanced Ministries, which he explained is a ministry that serves orphans and widows in the nation of Uganda and Africa, has had its Bank of America account suspended.

"He was no longer able to access any of his funds to serve the needs of his constituents," Bangert said, and "he was never given a reason why it was done." As he explained, this is what "these debanking instances look" like. "They're done with no apparent reason, and they're done" most frequently to Christian and conservative groups. As Hice noted, "It's stunning when you look at all this."

Ultimately, Hice added, the debanking may not be new information for many. But what may be more surprising is the fact "that officials from the Treasury Department are opposing state efforts to stop this." He asked, "Why is the Treasury Department on the wrong side of this issue?" According to Bangert, it's because they believe (or claim) that "preventing discrimination by banks on the basis of religion or political viewpoint somehow constitutes a threat to national security laws."

The laws put forth by Florida and other states "simply prevent banks from withdrawing services for reasons that aren't quantifiable, that don't relate to objective risks, or that relate to someone's religious or political viewpoints," Bangert explained. As Hice summarized, "What's going on here is that people are being punished. People are being denied some basic financial services based upon their religious beliefs and or their political beliefs. Not because they're terrorists ... but because of what they believe."

Bangert agreed, noting that "a lot of this relates back to the absorption of ... ESG," which are the "standards that a number of businesses, including banks, have adopted over the past few years to guide their conduct." The issue with embracing ESG, however, is that several banks used it as an excuse to deny "services to companies because they manufactured guns or because they were involved in the fossil fuel industry." 

But over time, Bangert emphasized, that turned into banks "denying services to individuals or organizations because of their religious affiliation. And this is very much in keeping with the push for ESG standards. This is a politicization of the banking industry, just like we've seen the politicization of a number of different sectors of the economy."

According to Bangert, the abuse of ESG "has nothing to do with risk. It has nothing to do with the actual conduct of the bank." But rather, it has "everything to do with driving a political agenda that is opposed to things like ... fossil fuels, gun manufacturing, gun ownership, or ... religious belief." Hice added, "It's their attempt to try to force social policies on those" they disagree with. They're "weaponizing the government and the banking industry."

What it boils down to, Bangert said, is that the Treasury "is likely reacting to political pressure to keep advancing this ESG agenda," which is something "we've seen ... over and over again throughout the economy." Bangert contended, "It's really incredible the amount of surveillance that's happening right now of ordinary Americans who are simply going about their business. 

They're being surveilled by these financial institutions, and the concern that we have, quite frankly, is that the Left is going to try to use some of these businesses to ... drive social policy, much like we see the Chinese Communist Party doing in China with the Social Credit scores."

"Now," Bangert concluded, that's "obviously ... a leap from where we are today, but we certainly don't want to see things head in that direction."

Originally published at The Washington Stand