Why do the non religious represent less than one percent of the prison population......?

Question

yet they represent up to 10-16 percent of the general population.

sample : "of those executed for murder 65% were
Catholics, 26% Protestants, 6% Hebrew, 2% Pagan, and less than 1/3 of 1%
non-religious."

Now I thought that it was us non religious folk who were the ones with no sense of morality yet we make up a tiny proportion of the prison population compared to our general numbers.

To put it simply

78 % of the US population is christian and 84 % of the prison population is christian yet 10-16 % of the US population is non religious yet they ony represent 0.3 % of the prison population.

Why do you think this is so ?

Surely all the "nasty" secular people should have a disproportionate amount in prisons.

Sources

The Federal Bureau of Prisons

"The New Criminology," Max D. Schlapp and Edward E. Smith

Answer 1

Shirley the Secular is not nasty, that was one Christmas party for God's sake! She certainly shouldn't go to prison for it, all though I don't think all the Women that were there will every forgive Her; and I did hear the bosses Wife say She should be locked up! Probably should keep Her away from the punch bowl though, we need to find her a good mate!!

Answer 2

Wow! Where did you get these stats?, they are great,unfortunatedly they are not entirely correct.

I will start with the latter part of your resourceful question.

Firstly 78% of the US population are NOT Christians they are RELIGIOUS, the is a difference. Good people (some go to church)who believe that Christianity is a culture that you are born into but have no relationship with God through Jesus Christ.

I'm Catholic, I'm Baptist, I'm conservative...so!. Do you have a personal relationship with Christ that is natured and treasured above everything that exist around you, if the answer is no than "you are not a christian".

There are those in prison who may be innocently accused for a crime, but generally all who are in prison committed a crime. Whether it is murder, rape, stealing, child molestaion, etc; they have done something wrong. That is only the beginning; when you committ any crime it is a "SIN" before it becomes a crime. The system has to prove you are guilty regardless of the eveidence; God sees and knows the minute you put the thought in your mind and see the act being carried out and that individual sin against God even before he physically carrys out the crime.

I said all of that to say this; their are person who heard about God, grew up in homes where the word of God was geniuenly though and some even went to church and might have accept Christ as their savior; but somewhere between heaven and hell they drop the ball and sin against another human being and more importantly God.

Many are catholics, prostestants and other religions, but few are Christians. And as for the 10-16 percent you speak of as "the "nasty" secular people"; while they may not be in prison, but still are addicted to pronography, lie, steal, committ adultry,homosexuals,child molesters, abusive, neglect their elderly parents, hate others, in love with themselves, self-sufficient and have no regard for God. Even you yourself can't say you are "spotless", I am not spotless and I am not in prison and I don't think you are.

Thanks for the statistcs; but if you are judging who is right or worng by using prison statistics, than you are already wrong...Good Luck!

Answer 3

My Fiance is Native American and as such he has restrictions in prison regarding how he worships due to the control of the "Catholic" Priest. Despite the Federal Rule of "Religious Freedom" it seems that its only "Freedom" from State to State.
Example "Satanists" can practice in Iowa but try to get a "Sweat Lodge" going in AZ of all places!!
also Christians, Catholics and other Major religions are easily allowed to visit than other religious leaders.
To say the least it is so VERY frustrating to try to get my fiance his right to worship. Especially since his people have been here over 10,000 yrs (Hopi/dine)!!

Answer 4

when you go to prison theres a good chance you can die
so putting down your belief is a good way to blame it on someone else ,
theres the time thing as well and you get to study the bible lots of time to study the words in the bible
lets face it if your going to hell anyway it dont hurt to find out all you can about it
you can argue about religion all you want and wont get stabbed for it
probably the confession thing comes into it somewhere ,being forgiven could help some find religion
when every one else hates you you know god still finds it in his heart to forgive
make up your own reasons.

Answer 5

There's not alot for prisoners to do in prison except think about their crimes. They attend services to have alittle activity, then they like the message.

Answer 6

Have u considered the slight possibility of conversion from atheist to theist in such difficult circumstances?

Answer 7

probably because there's more religous people than non religous people, plus many take on religon in prison, to have something to maybe look foward 2