No Atheists

[Hlleonard]

That was always kinda odd to me too Grumpy.... It seems that everybody you hear anything about that are in prison have a belief in a god.... I do think a belief in religion makes the world a better place to live but to think that folks do the things they do to get put in prison, seem to all have a belief in god just puzzles me ...you would think it would be the other way around.

[Embrey]

HA...let em out and see what happens

[Big Gills]

Yes there are plenty of atheists in jail as well as alot of cons pretending to be born again Christians in order to get early released/parole etc. People in jail are desperate to get out and will say and do what it takes to get out. Worked with plenty of inmates who dont believe in God and tend to live a life with the devil. Thats why they are in that mess. Lots of inmates that are good people who made mistakes but they believed in God before they went to jail.

From my experience in Corrections for 18years, there are plenty of atheists in jail.

[Grumpy]

I know you are correct Big Gills, but what I was referring to are the "cons pretending to be born again Christians in order to get early released/parole etc." I won't go into some of the stories I could tell about cons trying "con jobs" to get time off for good behavior because I am sure, having worked in corrections, you can top anything I have. What I should have said is, if you listen to them talk THERE ARE NO ATHEISTS IN JAIL.

Grumpy

[Hlleonard]

I think Gills is right .... don't think a belief in a god has anything to do with whether or not somebody lives their life on the right side of the law or not ....most folks live their lives based on a combination of greed,their propensity to prey on other people instead of earning their living and what ever scruples they happen to have.

[bassin_bug]

IMO, a person in or out of prison, can believe that God exists and still not be a Christian. There are preachers pretending to be born again Christians who are as lost as rats in tall grass. I don't condone convicts pretending to be Christians in order to get their sentence reduced on good behavior. That being said, if they are attending religious services in prison, maybe some of the sermon will reach their heart and take hold. There is only a certain percentage of time the con can accumulate to reduce his sentence; I think it is up to 30% in my state. On other crimes they must serve day for day and there is no early release for good behavior.

Your friend may have written the truth when he said that "the Lord has him going in the right direction now." Maybe he had to take a detour through jail to realize he needed to make some changes. If the Lord can't save your friend because he is in jail, He can't save you and me who are walking free. It is impossible for prison bars to stop the work of God. It is wrong to have assumed that your friend was/is atheist just because he didn't talk about the Lord in your presence. I believe most people like him are watching the life we live rather than listening to the words we speak. There is an old saying that goes, "I had rather see a sermon than to hear one, any day of the week."

[LJP]

You are so right bug

[Grumpy]

Bug, I almost didn't make my original post because I knew that you would spoil it with your penchant for analyzing anything and everything that has even a hint of God in it.

I say again THERE ARE NO ATHEISTS IN JAIL.

Grumpy

[jcb]

Actually a recent study said that the atheist population in jails is small, but existent. Approximately .21% of the prison population are declared atheists. This is from the Federal Bureau of Prisons.

[bassin_bug]

Actually a recent study said that the atheist population in jails is small, but existent. Approximately .21% of the prison population are declared atheists. This is from the Federal Bureau of Prisons.

Absolutely jcb, ROCK ON, MY MAN, ROCK ON!
I wonder why Grumpy didn't check his facts before he made such rash statements.

[Hlleonard]

[QUOTE=jcb;397333]Actually a recent study said that the atheist population in jails is small, but existent. Approximately .21% of the prison population are declared atheists. This is from the Federal Bureau of Prisons.[/QUOTE

It seems if .21% is accepted as atheist population in prison then that is extremely small unless that is 21% ...But the percent of the of the population in the united states in general seems to be about 30% or so ...I'm not really sure what the " atheist " label is ...A lot of folks think it is a belief group of some kind like Christians or pagan or something ...If atheist is describes as not believing in a god then that number is probably higher ...if those numbers are correct then it looks like the percentage of people in jail who believe in a god is bigger than the percentage of the rest who do ...I guess that would make Grumpy's post closer to right.

[jcb]

It is extremely small - .21% is correct.

One of the problems is that "atheism" is difficult to define. It's sometimes hard to draw lines between atheism, agnosticism and "non-religious" beliefs. That .21% is "declared atheists."

(from Wiki) The most recent American Religion Identification Survey report, released March 9, 2009, found that in 2008, 34.2 million Americans (15.0%) claim no religion. Of which, 1.6% explicitly describe themselves as atheist or agnostic.