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Actually Christians make up a larger part of the prison population in the US. What is more interesting is that a far greater proportion of the Christian public are living in prisons than the 'non-religious' public.
It's suprising how many people say to me, "You're an Atheist? You must have no conscience about commiting crime then." Nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, if we examine the population of our prisons, we see a very different picture:
In "The New Criminology", Max D. Schlapp and Edward E. Smith say that two generations of statisticians found that the ratio of convicts without religious training is about 1/10 of 1%. W. T. Root, professor of psychology at the Univ. of Pittsburgh, examined 1,916 prisoners and said "Indifference to religion, due to thought, strengthens character," adding that Unitarians, Agnostics, Atheists and Free-Thinkers are absent from penitentiariers or nearly so.
During 10 years in Sing-Sing, those executed for murder were 65% Catholics, 26% Protestants, 6% Hebrew, 2% Pagan, and less than 1/3 of 1% non-religious.
My stance is that I see no real evidence that there is a god, if I were given that REAL evidence then of course I would change my mind.
I just havne't seen anything like that yet. In fact science has even identified a difference in the brains of people who are religious, a more active temporal lobe.
Atheists usually come around to understanding and accepting that there is something more out there than the tiny box they have painted themselves into, when there is something in their own life and their own personal experience that can not be "logically explained" any other way. Often involves a crisis (physical, health, emotional, major loss) of some sort when they are literally and figuratively brought to their knees, when their ways of doing life just don't work for them anymore. And something invites / forces them to do life differently than they have.
In the simplest terms, atheists do not believe in God, or other deities in the traditional theological sense. It's not a matter of proof, but simply that they just find the notion of Everything being created by one THING to be ridiculous and generally state something along the lines of Well, then where did God come from? Science, nor religion has an answer for that (and the faithfuls response of He always existed does not answer the question). Another reason is that most atheists also do not accept the criteria of follow, don't question that the majority of religions dictate. Most of this is not based on science, but just that they feel that there is no concrete evidence as to the existence of any of it. Keep in mind that what you believe is called faith for a reason; you have faith that what you believe is the truth and those who are truly faithful do not feel the need nor desire to question their beliefs, search for proof either way, nor condemn those who do not follow suit.
However, this does not mean that an atheist can not be spiritual or believe in a 'force' as many atheist are spiritual. Keep in mind that being spiritual is different from believing in an absolute God. Buddhists and Taoists are atheists in a way, although hard-core western atheist will reject that claim.
Your fondness for prophesy has not gone unnoticed.
Its an interesting mix of FBI and corporate interests in CityData.com...
Not obvious, but certainly THERE...Your contempt for others is not
without consequence.
It is folly to think God makes a threat.
God will remove from you all that you have and give it
To those who have nothing aside from great esteem for God
with humility. None will know the name attached to the
former owner of these dividends. God considers the FBI to
be a contemptible thing that he will wash off the feet of his
children.
"On the internet the men are men, the women are men, and the children are FBI agents."
Best quote ever. Especially the women being men part (if you've ever played an online RPG, you understand this)
I once was asked by an atheist if I could ever 'change my mind' about my faith in God. If any new evidence or new 'scripture' ever discovered would changed how I believed.
I would not presume to lump all atheist together as one train of thought...
but my question is this....
In your mind, and your conviction regarding the belief "there is no God"..
is there anything you need be proven to you to change your mind.....
is it a possibility??? How certian are you....
I expect there to be 'levels' if you will of determination as seen in the religious circle...some with 'more faith' as it were put. more like a bell curve.
>>Not a trick so I can get results and hammer you with the bible.....
I genuinely am curios....
thank you for your time...
Religious assertions rest heavily on supernatural events.
If and when magic is shown to be more valid than nature, I'll be convinced. Until then, religious claims are all equally valid, even though each faith tries so hard to invalidate the magical/mythical claims of every other faith.
where do u hear this, athiest have the lowest percentage ever in prison. i mean whats the point we only have one life.
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Religion = Magic
