Christians: if atheists are morally bankrupt, why are they 50x less likely to go to prison?

Question

In U.S.:

Christians: 75% of the population; 75% of the prison population
Atheists: 10% of the population; 0.2% of the prison population

Source: U.S. Federal Bureau of Prisons, see:

http://holysmoke.org/icr-pri.htm

SOURCE CITED ABOVE!

Don S: sorry to burst your bubble, but those stats are collected when a prisoner ENTERS the system.

Answer 1

Perhaps because there are no atheists in foxholes OR prisons.

Answer 2

Even though I'm roughly an 'atheist' and I should be supporting your statistics, I'm afraid the reason for these numbers is very different. In general, people who go to jail are poor. And the poor are mostly religious (more than the average percentage of the whole population). So the numbers you've quoted reflect a very high percentage of poor people in the jails, which is the real problem to be worried about.

Answer 3

I did not know that! I'd like to know where you got that info.

I have heard that a persons childhood/past has a big impact on the percentile of the prison population. It would make sense that religion could have an impact also.

My answer is No I didn't know that and since I'm not a Christian, I guess I shouldn't have answered at all. (sigh).

Answer 4

I am a prison minister and your information should be illegal it's so wrong.I can truthfully say 95% of the Christians in prison today came to know Jesus after they were in jail not before.I have helped many atheist find peace with God and that's the truth.The 8 % difference you see in the atheist column is because these are some who have realized they were wrong about atheism.Sorry to burst your bubble.

Answer 5

Well, it's really a question of ethics vs. morality. There are plenty of things that are morally wrong but ethically ok. Going against laws gets you put into prison, not being immoral. Many immoral people have very clean records.

Answer 6

You don't quote the source of your information. That makes your information very suspect.

Also, your "logic" is the same kind that people use in the following nonsensical scenario:

90% of prison inmates are right-handed. 73% of the general population is right-handed. Therefore, right-handed people are more "sinister" than left-handed people, because a disproportionate number of right-handers end up committing crimes.

Conclusion: Even if your "stats" were accurate, you can draw no direct correlation from such percentages.

A better-case-scenario has "atheists" being much more highly educated, for their absolute numbers, in the USA (I am assuming that you are quoting percentages of such, in America)

FACT: It is a known fact that highly-educated people who are gainfully-employed in a satisfying job or career are less likely to be criminally-devious (viz., to have a criminal mind).
In short, happy people do not go out of their way to make trouble.

Also, if those "highly-educated atheists" only later in life reached the conclusion that there is no God (because of their abundance of knowledge in the areas of science, math, cosmology, etc), then it can be surmised that it is not their religious orientation--for atheism is truly a "religion", even in the very act of denial--that has given them such a focus, in life, but their education.

So, atheists, with their high education, are focused on their gainful employ and not on getting into trouble.

[It is] better to conduct a "survey" of the educational and social background of criminals vs. the general population...and, not on religion.

Answer 7

So what about the proof that Atheists are morally bankrupt? I would venture to say that the same percentage of us Atheists are morally bankrupt as you Christians.
Religion does not perfect morals make.

Answer 8

Your statistics seem to support the recent reports that Moslem recruiting is highly successful within the prison system.

Answer 9

No you idiot Christians...... It's your fault that the only thing they have read in there is THE BIBLE. So they only have one thing to read so they are brainwashed like the x-ians on the outsides. Saying that they convert while in there is like saying you are christian because you are raised that way. It's like a re-hash of the DARK AGES, or do you not know your history. You idiot f'ers burned all of our Science and Math books setting us back 500 years in Technology.

thanks fundies

Answer 10

For the few that were not Christian before they believed in Christ as their savior were simple minded when they went into prison, and as such they were easily manipulated to become religious.

Most of them went into prison believing in God, I have been in the worst parts of town and trust me when I say most of the thugs, rapists, and other criminals believe Jesus is their savior.