Why do christians make up most of the prison population?

Question

what do you think about my answer. accurate/inaccurate?

TOTAL POPULATION in america christian to atheist:

Christianity: 76.5% of population
Atheist : 0.4% of population

Population in PRISON of atheist, which happen to be the lowest numbers of any group that are in prison BTW:

Atheist: 0.209% in prison
Christianity: i dont know prison population of, there is no info about that on this source i'm looking at

MY ANSWER:
there is only .4 percent of atheists in america. thats it :)


Source: http://atheistempire.com/reference/stats/index.html

Answer 1

if christians make up the largest portion of people in the country, then logically they would make up the largest prison population.

Answer 2

Are you serious....did you even read what you typed. I am sorry, but COME ON!!! First off you state that there are 76.5% of the American population as being Christian and only .4% Atheist. Do those numbers alone not send off an alarm in your head that might say to you, "HEY THIS IS NOT EVEN A COMPARISON" With those numbers even if all .4% athiests were in jail I am guessing they would still be the lowest numbers of any group. And to top it off you can't even give the percentage of Christians who make up the prison population. The best part is based on that you actually ask "Why do christians make up most of the prison population?", which comes off as more of a statement than an actual question. Am I missing something here? Where did you even show that Christians make up most of the prison population. Are you saying that because 76.5% of the American population are Christians and only .4% of the population in America that Christians must obviously make up most of the prison population? Is that even a fair assumption on your part. and what's the point of this post...are you trying to say that since only .209% of the prison population are athiests that obviously athiesm is better than Christianity?

I am sorry I guess I just don't know exactly what the point is here. Let me ask this. Let's say that hypothetically America was 50% Christian and 50% Athiest, does this mean that Christians would still make-up most of the prison population or would athiests make-up more than .209% of the population. If the number of Athiests grew, then would also the number of prisioners who claimed to be athiests grow?

Please explain it to me, as I have been often told on here (not personally, but lumped in with Christians since I am one) that I lack logic, reason and intelligence. So could you please explain to me your point.

Answer 3

Christianity is a band wagon religion in America. The majority wants to jump aboard or feel like the were left behind. It is much like the movie "Dogma." No body wants to be christian, but everyone wants to go to heaven. No one should treat any religion this way, but give people an inch and they take a mile.
As for people in prison, most use it as a saving grace. Would the parole board let out a bleeding heart christian or an atheist? Of course, they would let the christian out first, that is the society we live in. This is how many prisoners get out too. They are in prison, but they aren't stupid. Many got in there because they were masterminds. Also many use it to get public attention or for security in their death row hours. In the end, maybe there should be an affirmative action for religion too.

Answer 4

Because atheists take their beliefs and morality seriously.

When the majority of a population claims to be Christian, and places great store on the respectability of that faith, it's very attractive to people who don't know how to get hold of respectability any other way. People don't take a faith like that seriously. Why wouldn't criminals claim to be Christian if it was their only access to any kind of reputation? Why wouldn't anyone?

It means that the Christians who claim that these people aren't "real" Christians are right. They aren't. But because of the easy access to reputation and respectability (and no small degree of power, even at a local level - and ever heard of an atheist president?), Christianity is attractive to every charlatan out there (and some of them get to be president, vice-president). So the chances are there aren't really as many actual Christians in the US as the questioner suggests. Who knows, if you weeded out all the charlatans, shysters and hypocrites, there might turn out to be more atheists in America than people who actually deserve to be called Christian. Wouldn't that be cool?

Atheists have nothing to gain by saying they're atheist in an aggressively Christian country. They must just really mean it. That means taking their morals seriously too.

Answer 5

Okay yes probably a lot of them have gotten saved while they were in prison. I know quite a few Christians that got saved while in prison. Yes alot of the time they have to hit rock bottom to find Christ. But the thing is you have to look at what the Bible says about what Christians are supposed to do. If you look at the world and see how much bad stuff goes on then you can see that either the people who say they are Christians are not really Christians they are just saying that for some reason or they haven't been taught the way that Christians are supposed to live.

Answer 6

..................Oh my gosh!............do did not consider several factors in your numbers. This would be a very misleading fact that you are displaying. Here is one example alone: how many became religious after being in prison and how long after being locked up before converting? how many remained after release?How many are christians and not of other faiths? How many atheist are agnostic rather than atheist? Were they before prison, during, after. Much to consider when crunching the numbers. Talk to prison officals and you will find many inmates will say they believe to help on release. Many others will believe while lock-up because they are contained with only their thoughts and truly think for the first time about their life and choices.

Answer 7

First of all,this question has been done many times in the past few days.Second,many people claim to be Christian when they're not (some think that just because they were christened,or aren't Jewish or any other religion.Thirdly,did you notice the source from which your 'information' came from? atheist empire.Sounds unbiased,doesn't it?And lastly,many people to become real Christians in prison.I should know,because both my aunt and uncle are prison officers who have seen and heard what goes on in there.

Answer 8

It's not really YOUR answer is it ? I mean - U did say that the info came from a on line source, did U not ?
what is the problem or question ? U know U need one or the other in order to come up with a answer. lol
Besides, U have no proof to support your assumption.
everyone I know that has been to jail comes out talking about Islamic beliefs, not christian or even atheist beliefs........
DO U EVEN KNOW ANYONE WHO HAS BEEN LOCKED UP ?

Answer 9

The population in prison is proportional to total population. Nothing out of the ordinary here.

I don't know if your statistics are accurate or not, but religion doesn't determine whether someone will commit a crime. There is more to a person than his faith.

What I do wonder is why many convert to Islam while in prison?

Answer 10

For the same reason that Christians comprise the largest percentage of any other subpopulation you pick. When a significant majority of the general population are Christian you would expect that a similar percentage of inmates - teachers - blond people - tall people - police officers - house painters - diabetics - unemployed - or any other subgroup you choose would be about the same percentage.

Answer 11

Most of us were taught to be Christians (in the U.S).

Somewhere along the way, life happens, people turn away, and they decide that they ultimately run their lives, no one else, and for sure, no higher being. It is a "lack of belief" that allows people to commit crimes.

If you believe that God wants you to do good, then you are turning away from God when you commit a crime. Once you are incarcerated, you realize that YOU ultimately do not have control over your life at that point.

It seems that when people lose all their material possesions, freedom, health, or any other distractions, they look for what is real, and what is missing. They turn back to their faith, and back to God.

So often when people are on their death beds, they decide to believe in God. But that is such a waste, because they spend their entire lives running away from him, only to turn to them in their ultimate hour.