What Would Jesus Do?

It turns out the people who don’t care about Jesus (or any other deity) appear to make better choices when it comes to obeying the law.   There is an oft-cited (if outdated) study of the U.S. prison population that found only 0.2% of inmates described themselves as atheist.

Recent estimates put the population of atheist/agnostic/secular/non-religious Americans at 16% of the total population.  On the street, 1 person in 6 doesn’t believe in god; among criminals, it’s 1 in 500.   Why the discrepancy?  The same study found that over 80% of inmates called themselves Christian.

Shouldn’t people without any strong religious affiliation to guide their moral compasses be more prone to committing crimes?  I think the data raises some interesting questions.

• Is this study truly representative?  Perhaps criminals just checked the box they were most familiar with, even if they were not active religious participants.
• Do non-religious people commit fewer crimes, or do they just not get caught?
• If you believe the data, why do non-religious people commit crimes disproportionately less than their religious peers?
• If atheists are less likely to be criminals, do higher rates of religiosity (sp?) lead to higher crime rates?
• To reduce crime rates, should societies discourage religion?
• If religion is a moral roadmap for how to live your life, why are so many criminals claiming to be religious?
• Are society’s laws in conflict with God’s laws?
• Does Christianity’s focus on forgiveness and the afterlife lead people to commit crime in this life and seek atonement later?
• Do atheists avoid crime, knowing there is no such thing as the afterlife, to maximize their out-of-jail time here on earth?
• Are criminals otherwise immoral people who only “see the light” and become religious after being incarcerated?
• Are cops profiling people with Jesus fish on their cars, and ignoring those with Darwin fish or Flying Spaghetti Monsters?
• What other socio-economic factors are in play?  Non-religious people tend to be highly educated and have higher incomes, both factors that are negatively correlated with crime rates.
• Would Jesus really forgive a murderer or a child molester?
• Do murderers and child molesters believe they’ll be forgiven?
• Does God know about this?
• Why does the negative perception of atheists persist, given their apparent law-abiding nature?
• If prison alone is deterrent enough for atheists, why isn’t prison plus eternal damnation deterrent enough for Christians?
• If an omniscient god wielding hell as punishment doesn’t promote good behavior, what will?

I don’t have the answers, but I believe they contain some valuable insight into our collective culture and criminal psyche.

-Nick

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Tags: religion