Monday, July 01, 2013

The Godless commit less crime, have longer marriages, and are better educated. That last one is a gimme.

Courtesy of Knox News:  

The godless commit less crime, have longer marriages and are more highly educated than almost any other group in America. 

According to Federal Bureau of Prisons data, the number of responding people in prison acknowledging they were Catholic was 39 percent; Protestant, 35 percent; Muslim, 7 percent; Jewish, 2 percent; and godless, 0.2 percent (20 percent did not respond). 

Since the number of godless is estimated to be 10 percent of the general population, all things being equal you would expect their prison population to be 10 percent. 

If, as many people assume, the godless do not lead moral lives, you would expect the number to be greater than 10 percent. The fact that the actual number is 50 times less than expected can lead to only one of two conclusions: either the godless commit less crime than the religious or they’re too smart to get caught very often. 

According to a Barna Research Group report, fundamentalist Christians have the highest divorce rate, followed by Jews and Baptists. The godless are tied with Catholics and Lutherans for the lowest divorce rate. It seems that some groups that claim to follow the Bible most strictly are not putting their money where their mouths are. The godless who are thought to be without morals seem to take their vows more seriously. 

According to a Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life Survey, the least-educated Americans are Jehovah’s Witnesses, followed by black Protestants and fundamentalist Christians. The most highly educated are reformed Jews, followed by Unitarian Universalists and the godless. 

In fact, a review of worldwide studies found that criminality and religion go hand in hand. The countries with the most religious people have the highest crime rates, highest sexually transmitted diseases and the highest teen pregnancy rates. 

This is also true in the United States. The more religious a state’s population, the higher the crime, STD and teen pregnancy rates. The report does say that the religious are happier than the secular but posits that the ostracism of the latter may be a major cause. 

In spite of this easily obtained information, the groups with the highest crime rate, the poorest marriages and the lowest education continually strive to force their beliefs on the nonreligious. And the politicians pander to them. Why else would they pass laws to put religion in the schools and on courthouse facades? And then they wonder why the godless could possibly be upset.

There is literally NOTHING that pisses me off more than some smug Bible thumper claiming moral superiority based on the fact that they have turned off their critical thinking skills and accepted a child's fairy tale as fact.

And then if THAT were not enough, they feel compelled to spread their anti-intellectual virus all over the world, supplanting indigenous religions, and destroying ancient cultures at will.

As I have said before I would leave people alone in whatever delusion they subscribe IF they were willing to keep it to themselves and out of our science, our education system, and our politics.

The bottom line is that the moral superiority argument does not pass the smell test and without that WHAT could possibly be the reason for judging the non-religious as less trustworthy and ethical than those who supplicate themselves to a god, a goddess, or a pantheon of deities?

I'm sorry  what's that? Yeah that's what I thought.

12 comments:

  1. ibwilliamsi3:09 PM

    "In spite of this easily obtained information, the groups with the highest crime rate, the poorest marriages and the lowest education continually strive to force their beliefs on the nonreligious. And the politicians pander to them."

    That's because they breed like rabbits. They have more votes available. Excepting the ones in prison, of course...

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  2. Pastor Beldar Lapin Conehead, emeritus5:30 PM

    Thank God for Athiests!!!

    Here's a fun fact: Google's spellcheck red squiggles 'athiest', 'athiests', 'athieism', 'athietarian', 'athietarianism' and 'athie-freakin-tastisic'.

    And 'spellcheck', also, too.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Leland5:39 PM

      Try it by spelling the word correctly. It is a-t-h-E-I-s-t, not athiest!

      (Come on, Beldar! You know better!)

      Delete
    2. Anita Winecooler7:10 PM

      I "believe" Pastor Beldar Lapin Conehead, emritus was being satirical and misspelt those words on porpoise!

      Delete
    3. Leland2:26 AM

      Which is why I wrote the last line!

      Delete
  3. Leland5:35 PM

    This is news?

    I'm sorry, but I have sensed this all along. (Please note I said "sensed".)

    Why? Because we don't have someone constantly looking over our shoulders and shaking a finger at us to be good little boys and girls and to do what we are told. We aren't tempted to rebel.

    We have personally DECIDED that we won't be like those who want to control us. We have blossomed OUT of their control and can not be threatened with "everlasting hell and damnation".

    In other words, we are HAPPY. We may not have tons of money. We may not drive the most luxurious of cars. We may not live in the most opulent houses. But we reside in minds and hearts that are free of the constant fear of retribution by some vicious god which cares only for his/her/its own "greatness".

    We are the masters of our own EVERYTHING. For the most part, all we care about is enough money to care for our own and once in a while (?) those who need a helping hand. And we are willing to short ourselves to help those others, too, knowing full well that "what goes around, comes around." And if it doesn't, we have made someone ELSE happy so we are rewarded with gladdened hearts.

    Why? Because many of us have BEEN there and know what it is like to NOT have. Either that or we are calm enough in our minds to recognize what it must be LIKE to not have. Or we are happy enough to feel anguish over the pain(s) of those less fortunate. Or perhaps it is all three?

    I personally stopped worrying about those others - unless, as Gryphen says, they come after ME.

    Then?

    Then all bets are off and I can make hay with a happy heart.

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  4. Anita Winecooler7:25 PM

    We have a fundamental christian fanatical part of our family. My Aunt was originally Roman Catholic and had five kids. The fundies got them at a weak time in their lives, their business went bust, lost their house, etc. Anyway... they hooked her up with a used civic, got her and her husband jobs through congregants, and the rest is history. They converted their oldest daughter, whose husband refused to change religions, and she had the marriage "annulled" because they were "unevenly yolked" from some bible quote, and they got legally divorced on their own to settle property and visitation rights...the rest of them excuse anything with a forgiving God, they're right and everyone else is wrong.
    They call us "Godless" and I get them going by saying "You say godless as if it's a bad thing". Not bragging, we've been married over 25 years, we're educated and value educating our kids. They're turning out better than I ever imagined.
    Fingers Crossed...

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  5. Anonymous8:07 PM

    When I hear that a business is flauntingly Christian (e.g, Jesus fish on the web page), I hold my wallet and move on.

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  6. Sharon8:45 PM

    http://www.politicususa.com/2013/06/30/america-seige-koch-brothers-replace-constitution.html

    Everyone needs to read this article...nuff said.

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  7. I'm going to mention two misgivings I have regarding the article, though I recognize and agree with its message:

    The poll about inmates in prison asked about what religion they were at the moment of the poll taking, not at the moment they were arrested/convicted. Many religious conversions happen within the walls of prisons.

    Also, there's a "correlation implies causation" fallacy when you mention the religious states/countries having a higher crime rate, and you imply that it proves that religion begets crime. An alternate, though less plausible interpretation, might say that many find refuge in religion when confronted by high crime rates.

    In any case, I truly have a large amount of respect for what you do. I don't necessarily agree with everything you say, but I enjoy the way your blog posts make me think. As my 1st grade teacher would say, carry on (the British way)!

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  8. I'd rather bet on God existing and be wrong after I die, then betting God doesn't exist and then be wrong. It also takes a big leap of faith that the genius of everything we see didn't come from God. I will put my faith in God over atheism any day, as God has a track record of miracles. Atheists put a lot of faith in believing these miracles aren't true. Atheists committing less violent crime doesn't prove the non-existence of God. Perhaps Atheists are more materialistic and are generally wealthier and thus not having the need to commit violent crime but God has a few things to say about it being harder for the rich man entering the Kingdom of Heaven.

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  9. I was just reading about the prison population, which has a whopping 0.07% atheist ratio I found it uplifting

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