Atheists have no morals?

US prison statistics give us a significant clue. Christians make up about 75% of the US population and 75% of the US prison population. No big surprise there.

Atheists, on the other hand, make up about 10% of the US population... but they only make up 0.2% of the US prison population. Now, isn't THAT a surprise? That means that on a per-capita basis, atheists are FIFTY (50) times LESS LIKELY to be incarcerated than Christians. Pretty strange, huh, for a group that has no god-given guiding moral principals?

I can only think of two possibilities that might reasonably be said to account for this discrepancy:

1. Atheists are of a higher ethical and moral caliber than Christians, and thus are less prone to do the same kinds of nasty things that land so many Christians in the slammer;

OR,

2. Atheists are, overall, a lot smarter than Christians and thus, they are less likely to get caught in the course of their transgressions.

It's GOT to be one or the other... take your pick.

.

Source(s):

(Statistics from US Bureau of Prisons, 1997)

Although it is a fact that in the US prison system the majority of inmates are Christian. But really, pointing this out, does it give any realization or cause for improvement?

Realizing and understanding that morals are subjective and defined as societal construct is what should be stressed. After this, people will be able to make sound judgements and opinions on it.

Getting rid of political and forced religion although ideal, is something that needs to be done through education not erradication. Even if we were to suppress it by government sanctions, people would still practice it and we cannot stop people from thinking.

Religion should remain a personal thing within the confines of ones home, not imposing it on others as a moral authority which is the essence of the confusion.

"You will find as you look around the world that every single bit of progress in humane feeling, every improvement in the criminal law, every step toward the diminution of war, every step toward better treatment of all races, or every mitigation of slavery, every moral progress that there has been in the world, has been consistently opposed by the organized churches of the world."

Bertrand Russell, "Why I am Not a Christian"

I love that quote. Russell got right to the heart of it, didn't he?

I for one would love to see the day that all religious beliefs end, but I would not want them to end because of laws passed; nothing good could come from that.

Your question actually makes no sense.

Suppose everyone has their own ideas about the rules of a game, let's say soccer, Everyone makes up their own rules yet they all call it soccer.

The problem is that, if we get to make up our own rules, it isn't soccer. If you get to make up your own rules for morality, then it isn't morality. You can follow your own self-invented rules but it isn't morality.

tisoc you're an idiot, links or it didn't happen

These are the REAL statistics

http://www.skepticfiles.org/american/prison.htm

I'm sick to death of 3 things:

1. christians openly lying to support their evidence and not caring

2. christians claiming moral superiority even when they are obviously the dirtiest of dirtbags

3. christians complaining about how bad their feelings get hurt when you merely point out the truth.

you people are reprehensible

People who need an ancient book to tell them how to act morally aren't good people anyways. Common sense tells you how to act "morally"

Amen!

Hallelujah!

(and any other nonsense religious word you'd like to add)

Meh.

Morals & Religion.

Who needs 'em?

"to be moral is to discover fundamentally one's own being."