Read this and see if you can dispute my logic?

Question

A. The vast majority of people in prison are from low economic backgrounds.

B. People from low economic backgrounds are less educated than the people from opposite economic spectrums.

-therefore-

C. Most people in jail are undereducated poor.

I think this is generally accepted.

Next step:

http://www.holysmoke.org/hs00/prison.htm

1. The vast majority of prisoners affiliate themselves with Christian religions.

2. From step C above - most people in jail are uneducated poor people.

-therefore-

3. Christianity appeals to uneducated downtrodden people.

Finally:

X. Atheists comprise a very small portion of prisoners (per link above).

Y. If most people in prison are the uneducated poor,

-then-

Z. Most atheists must be intelligent, affluent people.

There it is. Don't dispute me.

@ Will:

Choosing a religion is a conscious choice. Your physiology is not something you can choose, it's something that you're stuck with. Therefore, your supposed answer to my logic is MOOT

DON'T DISPUTE ME OR YOU WILL GET OWNED LIKE WILL

@ fci_pitch:

Your comment "Notice you say they affiliate after being incarcerated. Significant.
You also say they Become Christians after realizing the mistake they made and are willing to be educated."

Your reading comprehension is miserable. Scroll up, re-read, find out that I never said EITHER of the things you falsely attribute to me, and then STOP DISPUTING ME.

GG, fci_pitch... GG

@ pinkadink:

Nowhere in the above do I state my personal affiliation. I'm not an Atheist... I'm Unitarian. What's it like to get owned by a transcendentalist? Why don't you go sit in a grass hut by the lake and meditate on it for a few years a la my main man, H. D. Thoreau?

Answer 1

I <3 Swingers,
I have an idea that prisoners are in there typically because they did something that was against the law. I think that's logical. Don't you?

Also, I have had roomates that were in the Christian Outreach to prisoners. Was that accounted for as well? That is; those that have become Christian AFTER becoming prisoners? I didn't see that on you report.

Maybe Mr. Swift missed that one.

A lot of people, myself being no exception, wait until they hit bottom before they admit they have a problem. If you want an example of that, just go to any Alcholics Anonymus meeting, they are free. Not that I was ever in prison, but I was ready to commit suicide.

Perhaps it would be good to do an Atheist Outreach, if you care so much about prisoners, and offer them the hope of Unitarianism (choke), as an alternative to "Religion."

Does any of that sound logical?

Answer 2

The flaw in your logic is the fact that these prisoners find religion AFTER they're locked up because of the religious influence in prisons. It also doesn't stand to reason that if Christians were uneducated poor then how do they manage to build such massive churches? And so many of them at that? How many cable tv stations are dedicated solely to preaching the gospel? How many churches have Sunday morning services on the public tv networks?
All of these take massive amounts of money. How could uneducated poor people accomplish this?

Answer 3

Hmmm...most of the people I know are exceptions, the not-so-bright is a housewife w/ a Masters but the most intelligent person I've ever met has a hard time landing a job...
BUT, I have a distant relative who has emotional issues that help keep him going in & out of jail and he claims to be Christian. He's always adamant about Christianity, when he does something to land him in jail, he says it's b/c he's 'sinned'. I doubt anyone who spoke to him would doubt he believed the whole...myth. In his deep, deep sub-conscious, I'm sure he reassures himself, with all the other Xian repeat offenders, that if they live another day and are good, all will be forgiven.

Answer 4

Wait...you're challenging us to dispute you, and then you tell us not to dispute you? OY VEY! Not very logical, Mr. Spock!

If you truly want to be objective, try to take your "cross section" and compare it to the population OUTSIDE the prisons...for example:

The Muslim population in USA is only about 0.6%, but it prison, they account for 7.3% of the population. Does that mean Muslims are 12 times as likely to commit offenses which will have them convicted and sent to prison? Obviously NOT.

About 77% ( of the 81% of people who affiliated themself with a SPECIFIC religion ) are Christian, and your source indicates about 83% of the prison population is Christian / Jewish / Rasta. If you THINK about it, that's not a significant deviation from the normal population.

It might be more resonable to hypothesize that ORGANIZED RELIGION appeals to uneducated downtrodden people (but not exclusively). You'll see that in EVERY country, regardless of the dominant religion in that country. Where there's poverty, there is crime. Trying to draw a corelation between religious affiliation and crime is an interesting research topic, but keep the bigger picture in mind, not just your own back yard.

Peace

Answer 5

It would seem that most people that find themselves in prison turn to God and Christianity because they know there is no hope in being an Atheist. They become Christians because they KNOW God can help them. Most atheists assume no one can help them, therefore no one does. God is there for the atheist as well, if they choose to become less "intelligent" (as you put it), and more humble by placing their lives in God's hands, instead of in their own care. And it is true that God can save the uneducated, the poor, and the downtrodden. Even an atheist like you!

Answer 6

No logic here.

Notice you say they affiliate after being incarcerated. Significant.
You also say they Become Christians after realizing the mistake they made and are willing to be educated.
Atheists in prison do not know the mistake nor are they willing to be responsible for the action nor are they being educated.
Simple enough I guess.

Answer 7

This is very biased becuase you are taking a small percentage of the population as a whole. If you want to start throwing out statistics and making assumptions, first get a non-biased sample of the ENTIRE population before saying that Chsirtians are uneducated and poor and athiests are intelligent. Your "logic" is flawed in more ways then I even want to get into.

Answer 8

Only problem with your analysis is that the prison population and the general population both have about the same numbers of christians vs atheists. So your logic basically concludes the obvious: That prison populations mirror the population in general.

I'm impressed...lol

Answer 9

Are you ******* stupid. Many more people are into Christianity than people in lock up. Everyone knows in America if you want a education you can get it regardless of social status. I hate to say it but rich educated people get in trouble as well. Enron, Martha,
I feel that convicts take to Christ cause that's all they got. I'm not huge on religion but to make a statement like you did was pretty ignorant.

Answer 10

I cannot, nor will I dispute the logic in this. It is a fair and valid assumption.

75% of the prison population is Christian. 0.2% is atheist. Either Atheists have a higher moral character, or they are simply more intelligent and do not get caught commmiting crime. Which is it?