Are most criminals Atheists?

Question

Do you think that most criminals are Atheists? Since they don't believe in God, they don't believe that they will be punished for their sins. What are your thoughts? I'm not against Atheism, just curious.

Answer 1

More importantly, are most Atheists criminals? I can tell you, lot of criminals "find religion" while they are in prison, they learn how to draw really pretty too. I like to call prison "art school"

Answer 2

In "The New Criminology," Max D. Schlapp and Edward E. Smith say that two generations of statisticians found that the ratio of convicts without religious training is about 1/10th of 1%. W.T. Root, Professor of Psychology at the University of Pittsburgh, examined 1,916 prisoners and said, "Indifference to religion, due to thought, strengthens character," adding that Unitarians, Agnostics, Atheists and Free-Thinkers were absent from penitentiaries, or nearly so.

The above is a quote from the first link.

Answer 3

There is a difference between what someone SAYS he believes and what someone really believes and what his actions show. If you say "I am a Christian", but you don't follow the teachings of Christ, are you a Christian? No.

Being a Christian means to live by the teachings of Christ, not just to be a member of a church.

"“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter." (Matthew 7:21)

Christians commit crimes when they disobey the principles of Christianity.

Atheist commit crimes when they live by the principles of Atheism. That's the difference.

The true question is: what would stop an atheist to kill someone if he wants to do it? Or on what reason do you tell him it is wrong to do it?

If we believe that we appeared by accident, with no purpose, if we are not accountable for what we do to a superior Being who knows it all, then we have no objective reason not to commit a crime, especially when it is in our advantage. We don't have a objective reason to say that crime is bad. The stronger survives and that's all. We all die eventually, and at the end of the life, there's no difference for an Atheist if he was a criminal or a saint.

Now about your question, you can say that most criminals are atheists, because if they weren't, they would have feared and respected God, knowing that He sees all and knows all and He forbade such crimes.

People can commit crimes by mistake, not just because they want it. It's not a simple discussion.

It's true that there are lots of uneducated people that commit crimes but are religious in a false and "cheap" way, thinking that if they do some rituals from time to time, God will help them. That's an insult to God.

Also, in prisons many people declare themselves religious because religion give them some comfort and they can also ease their life in prison by participating to various religious programs held in prisons and receive help (including material help).

Answer 4

Criminals often think the rules don't apply to them but that does not mean they are not believers. They count on others believing as well and simply break the rules figuring they won't get caught, or there'll be time to repent later.

Atheists, on the other hand, entertain few illusions about life and morality. Essentially, if you want a decent life, you have to cooperate with other people. Sure, there's no after-death punishment, but there's no "reward" either. WYSIWYG.

Answer 5

The PARABLE OF THE WHEAT AND THE TARE...TWO FOLD MEANINGS : (i) could refer to the WORLD , both atheists and christians ; (ii) could refer to the CHRISTIANS ALONE ....irrespectful of the above two settings , tares would always be more than wheat ...another PARABLE OF THE TWO GATES : (i) the narrow and straight wherein only a FEW enter but the wide gate , more people do enter...what I'm saying in here is that it is not surprising that many christians ( lip service ) are criminals so as there are atheists ...but that is God's work to judge , isn't it ? statistics would support either way but I am not surprised whatever the result is.....God bless

Answer 6

I'm sorry to tell you my friend that most criminals are not Atheists, but in fact religious people. I did a little research about religious groups in Prison a few months back and the majority of the population are God fearing inmates.

Answer 7

Actually the percentage of atheists in the prison population is lower than the percentage if atheists in the general population. The mass majority (think 80-90%) of American criminals are Christians.

Answer 8

To my knowledge there are criminals in every religion, so a lack of a belief in God doesn't automatically mark someone as a criminal. Lets see Jim Bakker believed in God didn't he? How about Jimmy Swaggart? Reverend Jim Whittington, Rev. Larry Davis? Crime is not about religion or the lack of it.

Answer 9

I'll counter that by saying that Christians can justify doing anything they want because they are "forgiven" of any atrocity, including theft, deception, rape and murder. If you got a "free pass" for ANYTHING you did, what's to stop you?

Ted Haggard bought meth (criminal act), claims he didn't use it (lie) when he most likely did (criminal act), and solicited a prostitute (criminal act) who was gay (against Christianity) to cheat on his wife (major Christian sin). All this from a man who spent his life preaching the word of God.

I'd say it's easier and more convenient for religious people to be criminals instead.

Answer 10

No statistically, in the U.S at least, most criminals are Christians, because Christians out number atheists by quite a large number.