Finding religion: insurer offers lower rates to central-city churchgoers. (Badger Mutual Insurance Co.)

Badger Mutual Insurance Co. is offering discount automobile insurance to churchgoing residents of Milwaukee's central city.

Milwaukee-based Badger agreed in late October to give 10 percent discounts on auto insurance to the 20,000 members of Milwaukee Innercity Congregations Allied for Hope (MICAH). The affinity arrangement will take some residents of the central city from the highest rate group in the Badger system to the lowest.

It is the first fruit of a two-year program by MICAH to counteract redlining a practice of setting auto insurance rates based on geographic areas as small as a 20-block neighborhood. MICAH and other consumer advocacy groups contend rating areas should encompass more general geographic boundaries, such as county lines. …