ExKiwilass

How secular family values stack up - LA Times

Secular adults are more likely to understand and accept the science concerning global warming, and to support women's equality and gay rights. One telling fact from the criminology field: Atheists were almost absent from our prison population as of the late 1990s, comprising less than half of 1% of those behind bars, according to Federal Bureau of Prisons statistics. This echoes what the criminology field has documented for more than a century — the unaffiliated and the nonreligious engage in far fewer crimes.

Boom.

MikeUK

Ahhh... but if you belive hard enough those numbers will drift, change, and make all athiests sinnners...

How about we compare the relationshipe between atheism to intellect....

Pizzawheel

I did see a study from the US which proved that the more extreme Christian groups (TV evangelist/ Pentecostals/ charismatic churches/ fundies/ whatever) were noticeably less educated and earned less than the national average.

I think this study could only be done in the US because in Europe etc these churches are made up of impoverished immigrants and not run of the mill citizens.

ExKiwilass

well, some christian faiths actively dissuade children from getting higher education. I'm convinced it's because they want to keep them stupid - and believers. The quiverfull movement, the Brethren (I went to school with a lot of Brethren girls - they were all made to leave school as soon as they were old enough). etc.

Pizzawheel

Agree- the creationists are a good example. Once you start denying science you can deny anything.

Shard

This sums it up perfectly.

JonboyE

The Brethren believe a man is worth his wages so they pay their bills promptly. Not like the bloody atheists who are constantly "putting cheques in the mail." They are alright by me.

Novocastrian

Didn't you get my postal order then?

ExKiwilass

My hometown is basically owned by the Brethren. They're creepy as **** imo.

Almost Canadian

One wonders whether those describing themselves as religious upon entering the prison system described themselves as such prior to entering the justice system.

My experience was that there were many that followed Fletcher's lead:

Shard

Is that in Kiwiland?

Looked them up on the web. Another weird backward sect IMO.

ExKiwilass

yes. like a lot of sects they didn't start that backward or discriminatory against women but over the years they've got worse and worse. Now they don't even let their kids go to public school, at least they had that chance when I was at school.

However, they weren't allowed to eat with us cos we might contaminate them or some such bollix

Shard

I wonder if the internet and / or social media will undermine some of these small religous groups?

ExKiwilass

it already is. check out free jinjer forum for an example

britsnake

This report is just bad science at the end of the day.

In the US only 0.7% of people explicitly describe themselves as Atheist (ARIS 2008: Mapping America’s shifting religious landscape). The majority of these are white or Asian. White athiests are usually afluent and well educated (less likely to end up in prison).

Black people are disproportionately represented in the prison population (13% of US population and 37.5% of prison population). They are also more likely to be living in poverty and surrounded by crime.

So you could say that being in prison is more about race, education and poverty than anything else.