(April 11, 2016 at 6:20 pm)abaris Wrote:(April 11, 2016 at 5:36 pm)TheRocketSurgeon Wrote: The simple fact is that atheists are very hard to find in prison, and given that we nonbelievers represent between 10% and 20% of the population (again, depending on how one defines the term), they should represent 10-20% of the prison population, as well. But they don't.
That's the only point I disagree upon. People from certain groups are far more likely to be imprisoned than people from other groups. For the same transgression, mind you. So, the prison population may not be an exact mirror of society at large.
Also, who's to say, someone's claiming to be religious really is? There has been that last powerplay by Ted Bundy, where he caught an evangelical pastor in his web by giving a teary pseudo confession. It was all taped and he more or less said what the pastor wanted to hear. Porn being at the root of all evil and things like that, so that the pastor went away with the conviction of Bundy being saved in the last days of his life.
There are books and studies coming out now that claim the religious fundamentalism is actually criminogenic. Religious fundamentalist attitudes create crime.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-...-book.html
Dr. Peterson-Sparks' book is a good read. It doesn't bash religion or christianity - only the pieces that lead people to judgmental and punitive thinking.
"The family that prays together...is brainwashing their children."- Albert Einstein