If you need God for Morality, why are Atheists so underrepresented in prison pop.?

[fated]

Maybe someone has statistics to back up their claim?

I'd say more likely this answer is fairly self evident. To see where any disparage might or might not be, one need only see other arguments regarding the so-called professor discrepancy so often used to justify atheistic beliefs. It is doubtful that the exact study you are looking for even exists, because it would be a study of a mere curiosity. Thereby, the claims of the OP cannot be subject to reasonable discussion, if those gathered for discussion cannot derive reasonable conclusions from other available sources, and the question itself becomes a farce based upon how strongly those gathered deny that a particular point is simply attributed to positive assertion.

In case you are having trouble understanding what I said:

This question becomes a farce if there is no discussion into the demographics of the atheist population. Further, without demographics for the atheist population this question is unanswerable and is simply a matter of speculation, thus, both the answers you like and those you don't have essentially similar speculative value. Thank you.

 

[fated]

1. Can you back up that claim?
2. Your argument not only implies a correlation between education and wealth and between education/wealth and atheism, but also a (negative) correlation between education/wealth and criminality. Could you back up this assertion, too?
3. If your claim that atheism has a correlation with being educated - does that tend to speak against atheism or rather for it.


Which, if true, would be irrelevant for the question, but merely a nice try of not letting slip the opportunity to engage in character assassination, strawman and poisoning the well.

By the way, number 2, in which you close your eyes and doubt the wealth and educational discrepancy between those who are in prison and those who are not is fairly telling as to your motivation for denying the wisdom of my answer.

 

[Icewater]

Denying the wisdom of your answer? Hah. So far you've provided no evidence that wealth and education makes one see oneself "somehow "above" the need for religion."

 

[fated]

Denying the wisdom of your answer? Hah. So far you've provided no evidence that wealth and education makes one see oneself "somehow "above" the need for religion."

Nor, did I make that claim. (Hah.) Besides that is not the basis of the OP.

 

[Corey]

Answer:
Atheism is now and has always been a world view overpopulated by the wealthy and educated, who often see themselves as somehow "above" the need for religion.

That fails to answer the OP.

If religion is the source of morality, why aren't atheists over represented in the criminal population?

 

[Morcova]

Nor, did I make that claim. (Hah.) Besides that is not the basis of the OP.

you didn't?

Answer:
Atheism is now and has always been a world view overpopulated by the wealthy and educated, who often see themselves as somehow "above" the need for religion.

 

[cantata]

[SIZE=-1]With figures of 8-16 % of the populatipon being Atheists it would seem that they are under represented at 0.209 % of the prison population. Doesn't this prove that one need not believe in God in order to, you know, NOT do the things that society has deemed immoral enough to codify as law? I know most Atheists and rational people already know the argument is bunk, but doesn't this prove it?[/SIZE]

What's the average IQ in prisons? Is it lower than the IQ of the general population? It wouldn't surprise me if it were.

If so, remember that as IQ increases, so does the chance of leaving religion behind. See e.g. this and this. (Not the best sources, but there are many more out there.) Therefore it could have more to do with a correlation between crime and intelligence than religion and morality.

However, I do believe that religion doesn't make you more moral. The religious and the non-religious, globally speaking, seem to be pretty much on an even keel, in moral terms.

 

[LittleNipper]

The very simple reason there are very few "Atheists" in prision is because no one ever got out of jail on good behavior by calling himself an anarchist. Guys play up to people's feelings, in an effort to get released. "Yes, sir, I'm so sorry..." My, mama told me that I should listen to the LORD and I didn't. I'm turning over a new leaf. I's dones found da LORD-----amen... Preach it brother."

 

[cantata]

The very simple reason there are very few "Atheists" in prision is because no one ever got out of jail on good behavior by calling himself an anarchist. Guys play up to people's feelings, in an effort to get released. "Yes, sir, I'm so sorry..." My, mama told me that I should listen to the LORD and I didn't. I'm turning over a new leaf. I's dones found da LORD-----amen... Preach it brother."

Why is "Atheists" in inverted commas, and why have you equated atheism with anarchism?

 

[Morcova]

The very simple reason there are very few "Atheists" in prision is because no one ever got out of jail on good behavior by calling himself an anarchist.

What does anarchist have to do with atheist?

 

[stan1980]

What's the average IQ in prisons? Is it lower than the IQ of the general population? It wouldn't surprise me if it were.

If so, remember that as IQ increases, so does the chance of leaving religion behind. See e.g. this and this. (Not the best sources, but there are many more out there.) Therefore it could have more to do with a correlation between crime and intelligence than religion and morality.

However, I do believe that religion doesn't make you more moral. The religious and the non-religious, globally speaking, seem to be pretty much on an even keel, in moral terms.

Another nail in the coffin for religion. If religion was truly spiritual, it's hard to imagine why there would be correlation with IQ.

Has it ever been proven that people with lower IQs are more gullible?

 

[cantata]

Another nail in the coffin for religion. If religion was truly spiritual, it's hard to imagine why there would be correlation with IQ.

Arguably, less education means less worldly knowledge, which means less questioning of one's faith. This is supposed to be a virtue, I think. Lucky, that!

Has it ever been proven that people with lower IQs are more gullible?

I don't think we need a study to prove that...

 

[fated]

you didn't?

You will see, of course, that the phraseology is greatly different. Although often, it seems, atheists believe that science and human intellect are capable of making every judgment for themselves. I, however, must insist that when two things contradict only one can be true.

 

[fated]

Denying the wisdom of your answer? Hah. So far you've provided no evidence that wealth and education makes one see oneself "somehow "above" the need for religion."

You would like to discuss the positive assertion? I don't mind some debate on positive assertions, as long as something is to be gleaned from them, do you?

"Mixed science and the positive assertion:"

[FONT=&quot]Assume[/FONT] a marble resting on the surface of a desk.
1) What is the probability (P) of the marble passing through the surface of the desk as the time frame (T) approaches infinity?

Suppose one scientist in his search for the answer collects evidence spanning 10,000 year of experience and there is not one incidence of this occurrence. He therefore concludes that his experiment shows that the probability is “undefined.”

Suppose another scientist upon placing a marble on the surface of the desk sees it pass through the surface of the desk. He has collected a total of less than one second of evidence, and yet concludes that the probability of the occurrence equals “1” over the given time frame.

 

[stan1980]

I don't think we need a study to prove that...

Maybe not, but it i'd like to see a study that tests whether the religious are more gullible than atheists.

 

[fated]

Maybe not, but it i'd like to see a study that tests whether the religious are more gullible than atheists.

I highly doubt that gullibility is restricted to any one group of individuals.

 

[fated]

Another nail in the coffin for religion. If religion was truly spiritual, it's hard to imagine why there would be correlation with IQ.

Has it ever been proven that people with lower IQs are more gullible?

This is the same positive assertion I (it looks like we) was/are/where using to explain the OP.

 

[cantata]

I highly doubt that gullibility is restricted to any one group of individuals.

The question was whether religious people are, in general, more gullible than non-religious people - not whether only religious people are gullible.

 

[fated]

The question was whether religious people are, in general, more gullible than non-religious people - not whether only religious people are gullible.

Interesting statement based on what it looks like to various perspectives, from "outside" the Catholic Church, one could conclude that "religious people" are those falling down in the aisles at the local Pentecostal Church during a hymn sing. From the Catholic Church perspective this could be viewed as questioning whether nuns and monks (educated in theology and philosophy and often other sciences) are more gullible than the general populace.

 

[cantata]

Interesting statement based on what it looks like to various perspectives, from "outside" the Catholic Church, one could conclude that "religious people" are those falling down in the aisles at the local Pentecostal Church during a hymn sing. From the Catholic Church perspective this could be viewed as questioning whether nuns and monks (educated in theology and philosophy and often other sciences) are more gullible than the general populace.

A question was posed, not a statement. I don't disagree with you; I just think that you misrepresented the question earlier.