Atheists and the Federal Bureau of Prisons

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fdVucvo-kDU

This evening I noticed a YouTube video by zakiechan titled "Atheist." That video cites data I originally published in the year 1997. This no longer surprises me, since I have seen that data has been used and abused in scores of places on the Internet. The data is usually used by atheists to show that the prison population in the United States is made up mostly of Christians, with a tiny fraction of one percent of the prison population being atheists.

If I had known the data would be misused and abused I would not have published that data.

In brief, the history of that data is as follows. In the FidoNet message conference called HOLYSMOKE in 1997, the issue came up regarding the hypothesis that atheists commit far fewer crimes than theists; one of the people who held the contrary opinion, Jesse J., said quote "Indeed, if there were no God, I would _have_ to be selfish, I believe, because there would be no one else watching out for me, and no reason to put anyone or anything ahead of me." His argument was that people must believe in a god or gods to be ethical, moral, and law abiding. His belief was known to be false, yet nobody in HOLYSMOKE could point to hard data showing it was false. And by the way, I would hate to be this guy's neighbor if and when he ever abandons belief in his god.

One HOLYSMOKE contributor, Rod S., decided to contact the Unites States Federal Bureau of Prisons and ask if there was data regarding the religious affiliations, if any, of incarcerated prisoners. Research Analyst for the Federal Bureau of Prisons, Denise Golumbaski, performed a database query on 5 March 1997 that compiled that data, and mailed it to Mister S.

Of the 96,968 prisoners in Federal facilities who reported a religion affiliation or reported they were atheists, 156 of them said they were atheists. The overwhelming majority said they were Christians.

In 1997 I widely published the data in FidoNet, Usenet, and in two skeptic related magazines. If I recall correctly, the Bay Area Skeptics also published the data. The Freedom From Religion Foundation contacted me asking if the data was legitimate; if I recall correctly, so did Fundamentalists Anonymous. I told them all what I will say now.

It was never my contention, nor Mister S's, that the numbers actually mean anything. For all anyone knows, 100% of the USA Federal Prison Population is made up of atheists. Or flying saucer cult adherents. Or Branch Davidians. The only thing the data shows is that most prisoners said they were Christians: that does not mean they were.

There are many reasons why atheist prisoners would say they are Christians: Christian prisoners in the United States are granted privileges other theists, and non-theists, are not granted. It is in atheists' self-interest to say they are Christians.

I should also note that this does not mean there are more atheists in USA Federal prison than 0.21 per cent: it just means that the probability there are many more is very likely.

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• atheists
• prison
• christians
• jail
• crime
• theists
• theism

[mrtadreamer]

The only times one find Christians in prisons, is when they are being persucuted for their faith, or when criminals convert to Christ in prison because of prison ministies.

[Desertphile]

@mrtadreamer ; Idiot.

[opinionhead444]

I was wondering about this myself...

In the book "The Irrational Atheist", Vox Day makes the claim that atheists are 3.84 times more likely to be imprisoned than theists. I've not read the book myself, but I did pull that statistic off the rear cover of the book. Would this statistic likely fall in line with you said in your video about how prisoners claim Christianity as their faith to receive extra priveleges?

Just thought I'd ask.

[Desertphile]

Howdy! Every survey I am aware of, from Gallup to the Pew Poll, show no discernible difference in the behaviors of theists and atheists--- at least when it comes to self-reporting. Theists and atheists in the USA are equal when it comes to good deeds, obeying the law, morals, and ethics. The chief problem with such surveys is that people answer for themselves, so there is self-reporting bias: a better method would be to ask other people about the behavior of a person.

[sleepdeprivation78]

Too bad you're brain doesn't work right.

[Desertphile]

"Too bad you're brain doesn't work right."

Appears mental; blocked.

[mrtadreamer]

Here's an excellent example of Christions locked up in America, Published: 06/22/2010 at 9:06 PM 2010: Christians hauled to jail for preaching Jesus 'Apparently the Constitution carries little weight in Dearborn'.One of the nation’s top legal teams regarding civil and religious rights has stepped into a dispute stemming from last weekend’s Arab Festival in Dearborn, Mich., where police are accused of enforcing Islamic law.“Officers arrested four Christian missionaries.

[mrtadreamer]

@Desertphile How so?

[postdesrapides]

I no longer respond to discussions over a year old due to overwhelming volumes of replies.

[faro0485]

@postdesrapides Is that because atheists have a get out of jail free card? Oh and how blacks are the most likely to go to prisons?

[MrPlanx]

BULLSHIT. You are a religious nut POSING as the person involved in this. 

[54321Adela]

Well it is really difficult to identify a Christian if they do not consider themselves Christian. And so is to identify a fake Christian because you can always repent and stuff, it doesn´t really matter what you do. And Churches usually claim numbers of baptised people as to improve their statistics. So they get what they ask for.

[l3lip]

For those of you who believe that the source shown here isn't accurate, here's a study from January 30, 2010 from the Federal Bureau of Prisons:

bornatheist[dot]com/files/Fede­ral_prison_statistics.pdf