Why are there so many Christians in?

Question

prisons gaols and mental hospitals? I have read that in the USA the highest percentages of practicing Christians, after church congregations are to be found in prisons. It is stastically true that there are a much higher percentage of people with criminal convictions in a church congregation then in a random sample. Apparantly one of the places you are least likely to find practicing Christians is in post graduate schools. Does this mean Christians are more likely to be criminals or mentally ill? We have all seen the high degree of affinity that priests, ministers and other clerics have for paedophillial sexual crimes, and a week does not go by without some TV minister being charged with financial crimes. Is this a general pattern for Christians, ie that many are criminals pretending or deluding themselves as be goodly and godly as some kind of self denial for their criminality? If you say no, please explain these phenomena in (in a rational manner- no silly Bible quotations).

Answer 1

Christianity is so irrational and delusional that of course their are lots of Christians in loony bins. They cannot face up to the eventual realisation they have wasted so much of their lives in pointless grovelling rituals and they crack up. Christians of course do a lot of missionary work in prisons and the cons convert in hope of getting some gullible cleric to speak up for them at the parole board. The high percentage of crooks in churches is partially the result of there being gullible faithful for them to prey on. Christianity has always been a big con game, money and a free lunch for the shepherd from the sheep was just the beginning. What a great all time con...Pie in the sky when you die..yet many mugs still believe it. A pox on them all

Answer 2

I think it's because many people have to hit rock bottom before they reach up and cry out to God. People that have everything they wanted or needed, are often hard to convince to fit God into their lives. I suppose that the same could be said for the lack of Christians in post graduate school. I think that it is possible to intelletuallize yourself into believing that God is a myth believed only by the poor and down trodden as a means of having hope for a better future. I don't know about every criminal who proclaims to have been born again, but I do know that if they are sincere and accept Jesus Christ as their personal saviour, God honors that. It doesn't matter where they are, who they are, or even what they have done. Salvation was made very simple by the sacrifice Jesus made on Calvary. It's difficult for non-believers to accept because I suppose to them it doesn't seem fair that God looks at all of our sins the same, and that by simply asking, a person can be forgiven for the most horrendous things. If someone is pretending to be a Christian, that's unfortunate, but it is not something that other Christians have control over. I'm neither a criminal nor mentally ill, and I have some post graduate education. I know that Satan works very hard to throw as many people off track as possible, which is why you'll always see fallen Christians in the news. But far from a "general pattern", there are many, many faithful Christians who live quiet lives of praise that you will most likely never notice. And most importantly, remember, Christians are not perfect, just forgiven.

Answer 3

It is amazing, that we have another "christ" but he doesn't know much or want to hear what came from his own mouth.

A FALSE CHRIST

There are a few possibilities for this. Prisoners turn to religion as a way to stop crime patterns and to stay out of jail. There is also early release for good behavior; what a better way to say that they have changed than by regular attendance at worship services.

The so called higher education is on a downward path; since they can't "explain" God, and won't accept evidence of his existance, they make the claim that he does not exist. You really should listen to the life story of Dr. Walter Veith who was such a person.

As far as the priests and ministers who abuse children, steal money or get involved in sex scandals, they are not exempt from temptations, and they are the very ones that falsely teach that the True Christ has already forgiven the sins that they have not yet committed and that it is okay. That is a wrong answer. Christ paid the penalty already, but the sinner must repent and ask for forgiveness of each sin.

Answer 4

Religious recruiters have the most luck when they prey on the weak. This includes children, the uneducated, the desperate, the sick, the lonely. In prison you find uneducated, desperate, lonely people who are at a stage of desperation that is ripe for religious indoctrination. When a person is at their most desperate, they are the most likely to believe anything that comforts. They long to feel better about themselves and thier situation. To say that they blew their one and only chance at life by landing in jail is a real downer. Pray for forgiveness and heaven awaits sure feels better than spending your one and only life in a cell. Religion comforts them like a big, warm blanket of ignorance.

If you see life as an atheist, and know that your lifetime is all there is--You have all the more reason not to mess up your ONE chance. Perhaps this is why population-wise, atheists are the least likely to go to prison.

Answer 5

i think that many people in prisons turn to christianity after they enter the prison system. i feel that this is due in part to the many jail/prison ministries that churches do. when a person is trapped in a bleak situation, such as prison, they grasp at anything, including religion, to help find a ray of hope.

i disagree with your stance, but i see and respect what you are saying. i feel that as a group christians have gotten a bad name because there are some stinkers among the bunch. it makes me sick to think about some of the crimes that have been committed "in god's name." i mean seriously, what kind of heartless freak can steal money from people that are snowed into believing that it's what god wants them to do. also, there are lots of christians that discriminate and hate people because the bible says that ____________ (insert homosexuality, interracial couples, people of other faiths) are an abomination.

i think that the people that fall into those categories that you've met or heard about take the idea of christianity all wrong. i feel that they are missing the message of loving your neighbor. most of us are decent, law abiding citizens that are just trying to make a positive difference in this screwed-up world.

Answer 6

I would like to know where you got your so called "facts" There are many who say Lord Lord,and call themselves Christan's. But unless they walk the walk and talk the talk as Jesus gave as examples,and have Jesus living in their hearts,they are not saved by His Blood & Grace. They may sit in their pews Sunday after Sunday and never experienced the saving Grace and fellowship of the Holy Spirit. Christians are no ways perfect,we are just forgiven. I do not know how factual this phenomena is,as your crediblity is in guestion to me by sayin "in a rational manner- no silly Bible quotations" Bible quotations are not silly, they lead to salvation to the loss of this world. I do thank you,because concsiouly or not you showed the Bible the respect it deserves by capitalizing the Word Bible,a sign of respect and importance where I come from.

Answer 7

Have you ever thought that, maybe the person in the hospital, or the prison, became a Christian, after they got there. Say from somebody coming out to visit them and witnessing to them. Not the other way. As to your question about statistics, I think you need to look at the motive behind the person's actions and look at wether the person has a true relationship with Christ or not. The only one that knows for sure is God himself. So who are we to judge and make assumptions like the ones that you are making.

You also might want to change your avatar, because I for one am offended by it.

Answer 8

Dostoevsky, Saint Augustine, John Donne, Shakespeare, Milton, and C. S. Lewis all have the same answer for that question. Suffering is a sometimes necessary part of realizing God's existence. When we suffer, we turn to God to save us. This is why Christ talked to the dregs of society: the prostitutes, the murderers, and the sinners. Faith arises and strengthens in the midst of turmoil.

Going back to Dostoevsky, his novels follow characters who become tortured with guilt and mental anguish, and only through this suffering do they find God. Raskolnikov in Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment, for instance, murders an old pawnbroker whom is a general drain on society. He spends the rest of the book racked with grief and guilt until he finally repents to God (with the help of Sonia, the hooker) and turns himself in to the police.

I could elaborate on some of the other authors, but that would be tedious. Instead I'll simply quote C.S. Lewis: "Suffering is God's megaphone to wake a sleeping world." The prisoners and those in mental instutions experience the holy by experiencing true pain.

The college graduates are the most affluent and therefore think they do not need God. The correlation you have drawn is spurrious. It is not really an issue of education but an issue of money. The elitists not only become better in their own minds than the poor, but they even delude themselves into being better than God. Of course the prisoners, the soldiers, and the poor are religious; they've experienced great sorrow. They NEED God, and God embraces them. God cannot be reached intellectually (at least not purely). The graduate degree earning man does not have the pain that allows him to attain closeness to God, and his intellect is insufficient. The televangelist is the same. They attain prosperity, and the greed sucks them into complacency.

Answer 9

Prisoners come from all walks of life. Not all are guilty and those that are, are not perfect. The apostle Paul went to Prison and wrote many epistles of the bible. Yes, there are more poor christians than rich. That way the rich can not buy their way into the kingdom of God. All have sinned and come short of the glory of God. There is none righteous, no not one. Soooo, it doesn't matter whether you go to prison, to Harvard or live in Beverly Hills. Whether you have a Ph.d or a GED, WE all need J-e-s-u-s to make it into the kingdom. There is no other way.

Answer 10

Christianity is used to save people, thus the people in prison are being preached to so that they too can be saved. Being in the clergy does not make a person a man of God. The more educated a person is the less likely they believe in religion because there's not sufficient proof to support it.