.2% of prisoners are atheists?

Question

I posted this here because there was more than one question using this information and I didn't want to answer each question with the link. I am curious where the statistics came from because when I searched government links regarding the breakdown of the prison population, I could not find anything specifically regarding religious beliefs. Then I came across this link.
If anyone has other information regarding statistical information please add because I think this is an interesting topic and I would like to know what the numbers actually are.
Thanks.

http://www.adherents.com/misc/adh_prison.html

Note that further down it seems it is more like 20%. But other statistics are welcome.

That is true, has anyone been able to find anything more current. The closest I have seen is 10 years old.

No, I did read and I thought this was very interesting but not just for the numbers.

According to the DOJ Bureau of Justice Statistics (National Census of the Jail Population 12/31/95), while 72% affirmed affiliation with religious institutions (determined through answers to the question on "Religious Background" on the Penal entrance form) only 54% of Federal and State Prisoners actually consider themselves religious, and 33% can be confirmed to be practicing their religion. This is demonstrated by attendance records at religious services, which averaged anywhere between 30% and 40%, depending upon the time of year and the institution in question (and who was preaching). These figures are comparable to the national average as establish by the Gallup organization.

It is easy to label someone with a faith, but if you went to work 30% of the year I do not think you would be considered gainfully employed.

I tried to find a link not put out neither Christians nor atheists. I was hoping to find government statistics.

How much of the population is actually composed of atheists? This site suggests holysmoke may be fudging.
"The atheist site, however, provided no source for the notion that "8 to 16%" of Americans are atheists. This statistic is completely without support from the available data. Gallup polls which include questions about religion have consistently shown that between 93 and 96% of Americans say that they believe in God. Presumably atheist writers would not suggest that up to half of their claimed "atheists" believe in God. "

jl, I hear what you are saying, I have an uncle in prison for murder. He converted to Christianity after about 15 years. I do believe some circumstances will get your attention and call your eyes to God.

Answer 1

Many prisoners accept religion after they are incarcerated. About 20% are atheist when they enter. .2% when they leave.

The reverend "Ben Dover" must really get to them.

Answer 2

As mentioned a few times above, 0.209 % of the prison population is atheist.

In terms of the general population of the United States, between 10-14% are self-identified as atheist.

Quite the disparity don't you think?

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Edit:

Whatever the actual percentage of the general population is, it isn't 0.209%. It's at least 40 times that number. And that is still quite the disparity. And it isn't because atheists convert when they get inside. There is also a correlation between atheism and intelligence. There was a question about it asked early today. I didn't answer it so I don't have the exact link. I'm sure you can search for it. Is there a negative correlation between intelligence and going to jail?

I've actually done some work related to sample testing, and determining atheism from a religious based question can be quite difficult. Most surveys are written to find out what religion people belong to or other beliefs they may have, atheism is not a religion. The form of most of these questions is problematic. I would say this is the reason for the variation you see in most of these results.

Answer 3

Interesting site!

I found that 16% of the world is non-religious, whereas 33% is Christian, 21% is Islam, and 14% Hindu.

Now if there are twice as many Christians as atheists, statistically there should be twice as many incarcerated Christians, right? This site:

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

shows that although over 83% of prisoners are Christian, that only 0.21% of atheists are in prison. It also points out that the majority of Christians in prison are Catholic and Protestant (ethnic gang members, I would guess).

It simply follows the teachings of, "Instead of taking responsibility for my own actions, I will give my free will over to an invisible man and everything will be fine."

Answer 4

These are 1997 stats (the latests I could find). They are from the US Justice Dept.

Response Number %
---------------------------- --------
Catholic 29267 39.164%
Protestant 26162 35.008%
Muslim 5435 7.273%
American Indian 2408 3.222%
Nation 1734 2.320%
Rasta 1485 1.987%
Jewish 1325 1.773%
Church of Christ 1303 1.744%
Pentecostal 1093 1.463%
Moorish 1066 1.426%
Buddhist 882 1.180%
Jehovah Witness 665 0.890%
Adventist 621 0.831%
Orthodox 375 0.502%
Mormon 298 0.399%
Scientology 190 0.254%
Atheist 156 0.209%
Hindu 119 0.159%
Santeria 117 0.157%
Sikh 14 0.019%
Bahai 9 0.012%
Krishna 7 0.009%
---------------------------- --------
Total Known Responses 74731 100.001% (rounding to 3 digits does this)

This should not really be much of a suprise since there are more christians than any other faith, or lack therof, in the US. However, what is does prove is that christians are not any better or more honest than anyone else.

Answer 5

How do you think of they get those information? They ask the convicts! Why could desire to i think something a convicted felon says??? placed your self of their place for a 2d. you're enterining a detention center. you recognize that maximum persons are Christian in this us of a and so which you assume that the guards and different penal complex officers are too. you have already have been given countless strikes against you, so what are you going to assert while they ask, "faith...?" you may determine that a minimum of you will have the flexibility to get out of your stinkin' cellular for an hour as quickly as a week to bypass to chapel. in basic terms a theory or 2.....

Answer 6

Well you know a lot of people who commit crimes live in harsh conditions....like if some Christian lived in an abusive home....the conditions may drive him to do drugs or even kill. Plus many people find a religion in prison. so these statistics could be flawed...you may go in an athiest, but you can come out a Christian. you should try going there

Answer 7

The 20% is for "unknown" which encompasses a very large number.

Look to the very bottom of the article you linked to, the chart at the bottom shows the atheists specifically (not lumped in with the unknowns) at 0.209%.

Answer 8

Look further down. The first list does not give atheists their own category.


Appendix: 1997 Federal Bureau of Prisons from Denise Golumbaski, as formatted in Rice/Swift
Note that in this version, the names of a couple of religious groups remain non-standardized, and self-identified "Atheist" remains separate from "Unknown/None."
Response Number %
---------------------------- --------
Catholic 29267 39.164%
Protestant 26162 35.008%
Muslim 5435 7.273%
American Indian 2408 3.222%
Nation 1734 2.320%
Rasta 1485 1.987%
Jewish 1325 1.773%
Church of Christ 1303 1.744%
Pentecostal 1093 1.463%
Moorish 1066 1.426%
Buddhist 882 1.180%
Jehovah Witness 665 0.890%
Adventist 621 0.831%
Orthodox 375 0.502%
Mormon 298 0.399%
Scientology 190 0.254%
****Atheist 156 0.209%****
Hindu 119 0.159%
Santeria 117 0.157%
Sikh 14 0.019%
Bahai 9 0.012%
Krishna 7 0.009%
---------------------------- --------
Total Known Responses 74731 100.001% (rounding to 3 digits does this)

Answer 9

Maybe that's because Atheists are in the minority. A majority of the population is Christian therefore more Christians are likely to be in jail.

Answer 10

Did you ever think that a lot of these people who claim to be "Christian" are professing or lip-service ones?

In other words, momma maybe, daddy maybe, but God bless the child that has its own.

Guilty by association.

Answer 11

Looks like you didn't read closely, atheists are the most underrepresented population in prison.