This is a false representation of atheism. Atheism is the disbelief in the existence of Gods. Nowhere does that mean atheists can't believe in an ultimate morality, and nowhere is it even reputably suggested, much less logically proven, that atheists commit more rapes, robberies, murders, tortures, child molestations, tax evasions, thefts, arsons, embezzlements, drug distribution, kidnappings, lies or adulteries than Christians do. In fact, the opposite is true.
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Atheists make up about 10% of Americans, and represent 0.209% of the prison population (as above). Christians make up about 73% of the American population, and contribute to 74.172% of the prison population (as above).
If we correlate those numbers, this means the Christian populations both outside and inside jail are roughly the same, while there are considerably less atheists, percentage wise, inside prison than outside it. 47% of chaplians tracking religious conversion rates in prison say Christianity is growing, while only 12% of chaplians say atheism is growing.
So, even if we assume 50% of those Christians in US jails were not Christian until they went to jail and give the benefit of the doubt to you another way in assuming that all atheists were atheists when they committed their crimes, which is a very generous assumption, this still means that, using some simple mathematics, Christians are 24 times more likely than atheists to commit crimes which land them in prison.
View attachment 86176
Atheists make up about 10% of Americans, and represent 0.209% of the prison population (as above). Christians make up about 73% of the American population, and contribute to 74.172% of the prison population (as above).
If we correlate those numbers, this means the Christian populations both outside and inside jail are roughly the same, while there are considerably less atheists, percentage wise, inside prison than outside it. 47% of chaplians tracking religious conversion rates in prison say Christianity is growing, while only 12% of chaplians say atheism is growing.
So, even if we assume 50% of those Christians in US jails were not Christian until they went to jail and give the benefit of the doubt to you another way in assuming that all atheists were atheists when they committed their crimes, which is a very generous assumption, this still means that, using some simple mathematics, Christians are 24 times more likely than atheists to commit crimes which land them in prison.
However, past Gallup surveys have shown that not all Americans are absolutely certain in their beliefs about God. Given the ability to express doubts about their beliefs, the percentage who stick to a certain belief in God drops into the 70% to 80% range. Additionally, when Americans are given the option of saying they believe in a universal spirit or higher power instead of in "God," about 12% choose the former. Still, the May 2011 poll reveals that when given only the choice between believing and not believing in God, more than 9 in 10 Americans say they do believe.
More Than 9 in 10 Americans Continue to Believe in God
The number of Americans who do not identify with any religion continues to grow at a rapid pace. One-fifth of the U.S. public – and a third of adults under 30 – are religiously unaffiliated today, the highest percentages ever in Pew Research Center polling.
In the last five years alone, the unaffiliated have increased from just over 15% to just under 20% of all U.S. adults. Their ranks now include more than 13 million self-described atheists and agnostics (nearly 6% of the U.S. public), as well as nearly 33 million people who say they have no particular religious affiliation (14%).
A third of adults under 30 have no religious affiliation (32%), compared with just one-in-ten who are 65 and older (9%). And young adults today are much more likely to be unaffiliated than previous generations were at a similar stage in their lives.
In addition to religious behavior, the way that Americans talk about their connection to religion seems to be changing. Increasingly, Americans describe their religious affiliation in terms that more closely match their level of involvement in churches and other religious organizations. In 2007, 60% of those who said they seldom or never attend religious services nevertheless described themselves as belonging to a particular religious tradition. In 2012, just 50% of those who say they seldom or never attend religious services still retain a religious affiliation – a 10-point drop in five years. These trends suggest that the ranks of the unaffiliated are swelling in surveys partly because Americans who rarely go to services are more willing than in the past to drop their religious attachments altogether.
In 2007 Pew Research Center surveys, 15.3% of U.S. adults answered a question about their current religion by saying they were atheist, agnostic or “nothing in particular.” The number of religiously unaffiliated respondents has ticked up each year since, and now stands at 19.6%.
These findings represent a continuation of long-term trends.
“Nones” on the Rise | Pew Research Center's Religion & Public Life Project
About three-quarters of chaplains say that attempts by inmates to proselytize or convert fellow inmates are “very” or “somewhat” common (73%), and a similar portion (77%) say that either “a lot” or “some” religious conversion takes place behind bars. Fewer chaplains say that expressions of extreme religious views are common in state prison; less than half of the chaplains surveyed (41%) say that religious extremism is very or somewhat common in the prison where they work.
Chaplains’ Perspectives on the Religious Lives of Inmates | Pew Research Center's Religion & Public Life Project
I would also like to point out that the statistics on prison religion is hypothetical and not concrete. They asked Chaplins to guess what the prison religious populations were.
Also using the data that crime has been consistently increasing over the years, andyour sources also point to atheism/agnosticism increasing. Do you think there could be a similarity? Take note all information I have used was the from the direct websites and links you were citing.
My question on post 20 still stands.
How do you determine your own morality. And how does atheism as a whole determine ultimate morality.
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