No Atheists

[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.

[Grumpy]

Bug, thanks for once again proving my point.

I really should have known better than to make the post in the first place. Once again a bunch of you are making arguments over a simple statement and something that was never intended to be taken the way you are going.

Grumpy

[Hlleonard]

Aren't there religions that don't believe in a god? ...Maybe the Scientologist and even the hindu believe the spirit is in the person or something like that ....I doubt they would classify themselves as atheist though ...I think religion to a lot of people is just a social thing ....Gives them a reason to get together on sunday.

[jcb]

Exactly, Hll. "Atheism" is indeed difficult to define.

There indeed is a social aspect to many people's "religion." I guess that doesn't matter much in jail, though. To get back to the original topic.

[DJD]

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.

The wiki stats prolly changes daily...People going through hard times, happy times, sad times or whatever will change their relationship with God.