Well, committing crimes may seem reasonable to the fools who think they can do so and get away with it regardless of their religious belief or lack of it.
As long as a significant majority of the people on earth continue to view faith as a virtue, I don’t like the chances for our species surviving long term.
I’ve known people who worked in corrections and they all said the same thing. One of the first things most cons do is get born again. It’s all about manipulating the system to make their time served easier.
There are real methods for rehabilitation and recovery. Methods that have been demonstrated to work. Methods for which religious belief is irrelevant. Why aren't those methods used? One, too many people see prison as a place of punishment for crimes, rather than an institution for rehabilitating behaviors. The American justice system has much longer sentences for most offenses than the rest of the industrialized world. Two, Christian Fucking Privilege. Until we, as a society, can get completely past the absurd notion that "Christian" = "good", then religion continue to be a prominent part of any rehabilitation attempts in prisons.
Faith-based programming for rehabilitation is right up there with 12-step programs for substance abuse, which is to say, LOUSY in terms of short-term results and long-term tendencies of recidivism. Damned few people in government want to admit this because religion, because faith is still a virtue to them, and they haven't caught up with the times.
Making excuses for your behavior, not apologizing to those you’ve hurt, being forgiven by God only is not rehabilitation. If anything the religion being pushed onto inmates is antithetical to rehabilitation. Sigh.
No atheists in foxholes? Doesn't look like there's too many in prisons, either.
(Always thought the xtian claim of "no atheists in foxholes" was stupid. Unlike believers, atheists know there's no divine intervention that will keep them safe. And I'm willing to wager that deep down xtians know it too and are in those very same foxholes with the atheists. No xtians in foxholes, then).
christians make up 60% of the population and 99% of prisoners. God's really putting them through a lot of trials. Obviously, he can't be bothered with atheists. It's not like they're going to change their minds. Plus, he knows who's playing Pascal's Wager.
Even if the number is under reported by an order of magnitude, there are still far fewer atheists in prison than there are sa a percentage of the population as a whole. It's almost as if taking responsibility for your own actions is a much better crime deterrent than rules from an ancient book that allow forgiveness after a Public Apology to the Ceiling.
I suspect that atheists also recognize the relationship between actions and consequences, particularly those actions that might result in a confrontation with police, the courts, and eventually prison. My take is that we find such meetings to be untoward and undesirable, AND WE TEND NOT TO TAKE ACTIONS THAT RESULT IN THEM.
Christians may say, "We're not perfect, just forgiven," but the justice system doesn't appear to be listening! 😁
OT: I’m headed to Iceland (my favorite place) soon for the total solar eclipse 😎 and I just might come back an eclipse evangelist or maybe I’ll stay there ;)
I had a comment, one of my usual lengthy ones filled with wit and and insight, and somehow it simply disappeared in the middle of writing it. I don’t have much time to work on it again, so you’ll get the short version
So religious people show indifference to the suffering of other people. QUelle surprise. That’s French for no shit. Jesus himself tells you you’ll get your reward in heaven. Poor people in Hindu and Buddhist societies are frequently seen as receiving the karma from their previous lives. That’s just the way of the universe.
Hemant comments that White evangelicals were against all of the basic, scientific, sound public health practices to prevent the spread of disease and death during the pandemic. Atheist supported all of that.
And now there’s a study among other studies that shows the results of that.” Alarming new study shows conservative republicans are not only increasingly unhealthy compared
to liberal democrats but are also dying more. But why? It's not just covid. Evidence shows it's due to the demographics of people who became Republican since 2010 and
conservative (aka MAGA) conspiracy theories causing a distrust in medicine, doctors, and science.”
Theists, and specifically Christians, have muddied this water so badly that, while it is important to monitor, the data is not very informative. All those caveats and the speculation surrounding why inmates claim religiosity are valid and at the same time excuses. There’s all the perks and privileges of claiming religion, especially Christianity, that motivates some to be dishonest about their religion. Then there’s the fact that in society at large, folks who don’t believe still call themselves Christians for whatever reasons, familial pressure or ignorance regarding their religion correct label or whatever, they still claim that label in prison. There’s always a lot of pressure to be Christian or religious, no matter what situation you find yourself. Then you have all those cafeteria Christians running around blowing bagpipes whenever faced with any Christian that doesn’t match up with their strict image of what a Christian is. Not a single inmate is a true Christian, simply because they were convicted of a crime. Then there’s whole no true Christian based on the sect, or church, or which beliefs they consumed in the cafeteria.
It’s all just so convoluted. And it’s convoluted in a way that makes Christians look better than they are and atheists bad, despite being such a small percentage of the prison population. I do not think these numbers are useful to claim any sort of superiority for atheists, not that we should be claiming superiority. I can argue morality with Christians without resorting to prison demographics anyway.
Also, it isn’t going to matter very soon if we don’t make a stand at the midterms. And even then, it might not be enough. Anyone could be seeing the inside of a prison for the simple crime of not loving Trump enough.
“God is dead. God remains dead. And we have killed him. How shall we comfort ourselves, the murderers of all murderers? What was holiest and mightiest of all that the world has yet owned has bled to death under our knives: who will wipe this blood off us? What water is there for us to clean ourselves? What festivals of atonement, what sacred games shall we have to invent? Is not the greatness of this deed too great for us? Must we ourselves not become gods simply to appear worthy of it?”
He used "God" as a symbol for objective morality, absolute truth, and the foundation of Western meaning.
He argued that by embracing Enlightenment science, society had "killed" the need for God. He warned this would lead to nihilism (a loss of meaning) unless humanity actively created its own values.
I personally don't think the numbers mean much. Most people find God in prison, it's just one of those things. People believe weird things when they are alone with their thoughts for years.
If that sonofabitch gets confirmed ... well, it's just more of the same crap from an administration that doesn't give a rotten damn about the people it's supposed to serve.
If religion equaled morality, then you would think the prisons would be over-flowing with atheists.
And yet the prisons are NOT overflowing with our peeps. WHYIZZAT??? 🤔
Because reason is the mortal enemy of religion, and committing crimes is not reasonable behavior. ;) But you knew that already. lol
HEY! That's MY line!!! 🤣🤣🤣
Well, committing crimes may seem reasonable to the fools who think they can do so and get away with it regardless of their religious belief or lack of it.
The fact that proclaiming a religion has a benefit is part of the problem.
And it's all baked into the concept of faith being a virtue. A concept which Christopher Hitchens wanted to dismiss years ago.
As long as a significant majority of the people on earth continue to view faith as a virtue, I don’t like the chances for our species surviving long term.
𝐼𝑓 𝑤𝑒’𝑟𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑔𝑟𝑜𝑤 𝑢𝑝 𝑎𝑠 𝑎 𝑠𝑝𝑒𝑐𝑖𝑒𝑠, 𝑤𝑒 𝑛𝑒𝑒𝑑 𝑡𝑜 𝑎𝑑𝑑𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑦𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑚𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑖𝑛𝑓𝑎𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑙𝑖𝑧𝑒 𝑢𝑠.
-- TheraminTrees
My guess is that lots of atheists register as christian, to avoid negative treatment by prison staff and fellow inmates.
Good point, you also get social benefits and protections from being in a religious group in prisons.
I’ve known people who worked in corrections and they all said the same thing. One of the first things most cons do is get born again. It’s all about manipulating the system to make their time served easier.
𝐼𝑛 𝑎 𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡, 𝐴𝑚𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑐𝑎𝑛 𝐴𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑠’ 𝐿𝑒𝑔𝑎𝑙 𝐷𝑖𝑟𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑜𝑟 𝐺𝑒𝑜𝑓𝑓𝑟𝑒𝑦 𝑇. 𝐵𝑙𝑎𝑐𝑘𝑤𝑒𝑙𝑙 𝑡𝑜𝑙𝑑 𝑚𝑒, “𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑈.𝑆 𝑐𝑎𝑟𝑐𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑙 𝑠𝑦𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑚 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑢𝑒𝑠 𝑡𝑜 𝑡𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑡 𝑓𝑎𝑖𝑡ℎ-𝑏𝑎𝑠𝑒𝑑 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑔𝑟𝑎𝑚𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑎𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑑𝑒𝑓𝑎𝑢𝑙𝑡 𝑠𝑜𝑙𝑢𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑟𝑒ℎ𝑎𝑏𝑖𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑟𝑒𝑐𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑦.”
There are real methods for rehabilitation and recovery. Methods that have been demonstrated to work. Methods for which religious belief is irrelevant. Why aren't those methods used? One, too many people see prison as a place of punishment for crimes, rather than an institution for rehabilitating behaviors. The American justice system has much longer sentences for most offenses than the rest of the industrialized world. Two, Christian Fucking Privilege. Until we, as a society, can get completely past the absurd notion that "Christian" = "good", then religion continue to be a prominent part of any rehabilitation attempts in prisons.
Faith-based programming for rehabilitation is right up there with 12-step programs for substance abuse, which is to say, LOUSY in terms of short-term results and long-term tendencies of recidivism. Damned few people in government want to admit this because religion, because faith is still a virtue to them, and they haven't caught up with the times.
Or the nones.
Making excuses for your behavior, not apologizing to those you’ve hurt, being forgiven by God only is not rehabilitation. If anything the religion being pushed onto inmates is antithetical to rehabilitation. Sigh.
No atheists in foxholes? Doesn't look like there's too many in prisons, either.
(Always thought the xtian claim of "no atheists in foxholes" was stupid. Unlike believers, atheists know there's no divine intervention that will keep them safe. And I'm willing to wager that deep down xtians know it too and are in those very same foxholes with the atheists. No xtians in foxholes, then).
In a foxhole, you are far more dependant on whether or not the soldier next to you can shoot straight over the existence of a god.
Bingo!
And random chance. No matter how good you or your unit is; a high explosive round can still turn you into a pink vapor.
christians make up 60% of the population and 99% of prisoners. God's really putting them through a lot of trials. Obviously, he can't be bothered with atheists. It's not like they're going to change their minds. Plus, he knows who's playing Pascal's Wager.
"Christians make up 60% of the population and 99% of prisoners"
That's because they are PERSECUTED !!!
Strange way to spell “prosecuted.” :)
That's the christian way of spelling it. :)
Even if the number is under reported by an order of magnitude, there are still far fewer atheists in prison than there are sa a percentage of the population as a whole. It's almost as if taking responsibility for your own actions is a much better crime deterrent than rules from an ancient book that allow forgiveness after a Public Apology to the Ceiling.
𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑝𝑎𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑚𝑖𝑐 𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑘𝑒𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑎𝑚𝑒 𝑤𝑎𝑦; 𝑎𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑠 𝑤𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑙𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑔𝑙𝑦 𝑜𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑖𝑑𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑠𝑐𝑖𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑒, 𝑣𝑎𝑐𝑐𝑖𝑛𝑒𝑠, 𝑓𝑎𝑐𝑒 𝑚𝑎𝑠𝑘𝑠, 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑠𝑜𝑐𝑖𝑎𝑙 𝑑𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑤ℎ𝑖𝑙𝑒 𝑤ℎ𝑖𝑡𝑒 𝑒𝑣𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑒𝑙𝑖𝑐𝑎𝑙𝑠 𝑤𝑒𝑟𝑒… 𝑛𝑜𝑡.
I suspect that atheists also recognize the relationship between actions and consequences, particularly those actions that might result in a confrontation with police, the courts, and eventually prison. My take is that we find such meetings to be untoward and undesirable, AND WE TEND NOT TO TAKE ACTIONS THAT RESULT IN THEM.
Christians may say, "We're not perfect, just forgiven," but the justice system doesn't appear to be listening! 😁
THIS
https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSml39dZklIRg4yDVq3RBOI9ZRzZ9YSOemMgl5yHyIEWbcd-9FDwVuW-FQ&s=10
A regular GET OUT OF ANYTHING FREE card.
Jeffrey Dahmer and Ted Bundy found jeebus in jail. Does that mean they are in heaven, christers?
According to xtians, Anne Frank, a Jew, had to burn in hell.
Dahmer heard about the "Body of Christ" and was like "Sign me up!".
OT: I’m headed to Iceland (my favorite place) soon for the total solar eclipse 😎 and I just might come back an eclipse evangelist or maybe I’ll stay there ;)
I had a recent trip on Iceland Air, all their in flight advertisements convinced me I need to goto Iceland.
The eclipse in 2017 was just over an hour north of me. I'd definitely travel for another.
Yes go! It’s a magical place. This will be my 4th visit.
Have fun. I traveled for the two most recent US ones and highly recommend seeing a total eclipse.
I got some nice shots of the eclipse that was on top of us in Ohio:
Before: https://ibb.co/GQd2dHph
During: https://ibb.co/HTbd6R9D
https://icelandstepbystep.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/image-1024x451.png
I had a comment, one of my usual lengthy ones filled with wit and and insight, and somehow it simply disappeared in the middle of writing it. I don’t have much time to work on it again, so you’ll get the short version
So religious people show indifference to the suffering of other people. QUelle surprise. That’s French for no shit. Jesus himself tells you you’ll get your reward in heaven. Poor people in Hindu and Buddhist societies are frequently seen as receiving the karma from their previous lives. That’s just the way of the universe.
Hemant comments that White evangelicals were against all of the basic, scientific, sound public health practices to prevent the spread of disease and death during the pandemic. Atheist supported all of that.
And now there’s a study among other studies that shows the results of that.” Alarming new study shows conservative republicans are not only increasingly unhealthy compared
to liberal democrats but are also dying more. But why? It's not just covid. Evidence shows it's due to the demographics of people who became Republican since 2010 and
conservative (aka MAGA) conspiracy theories causing a distrust in medicine, doctors, and science.”
And now there’s a study that shows this: https://youtu.be/VIdEt4TyzCw?si=sayqAgiCymRlnuIy
It’s fairly easy to put all of this together and note that it spells MOTHER…
…Fuckers don’t care when they have religion. They can worry about the next life and ignore this one
Theists, and specifically Christians, have muddied this water so badly that, while it is important to monitor, the data is not very informative. All those caveats and the speculation surrounding why inmates claim religiosity are valid and at the same time excuses. There’s all the perks and privileges of claiming religion, especially Christianity, that motivates some to be dishonest about their religion. Then there’s the fact that in society at large, folks who don’t believe still call themselves Christians for whatever reasons, familial pressure or ignorance regarding their religion correct label or whatever, they still claim that label in prison. There’s always a lot of pressure to be Christian or religious, no matter what situation you find yourself. Then you have all those cafeteria Christians running around blowing bagpipes whenever faced with any Christian that doesn’t match up with their strict image of what a Christian is. Not a single inmate is a true Christian, simply because they were convicted of a crime. Then there’s whole no true Christian based on the sect, or church, or which beliefs they consumed in the cafeteria.
It’s all just so convoluted. And it’s convoluted in a way that makes Christians look better than they are and atheists bad, despite being such a small percentage of the prison population. I do not think these numbers are useful to claim any sort of superiority for atheists, not that we should be claiming superiority. I can argue morality with Christians without resorting to prison demographics anyway.
Also, it isn’t going to matter very soon if we don’t make a stand at the midterms. And even then, it might not be enough. Anyone could be seeing the inside of a prison for the simple crime of not loving Trump enough.
“God is dead. God remains dead. And we have killed him. How shall we comfort ourselves, the murderers of all murderers? What was holiest and mightiest of all that the world has yet owned has bled to death under our knives: who will wipe this blood off us? What water is there for us to clean ourselves? What festivals of atonement, what sacred games shall we have to invent? Is not the greatness of this deed too great for us? Must we ourselves not become gods simply to appear worthy of it?”
Friedrich Nietzsche
Nietzcshe was wrong. God(s) were never alive.
They're simultaneously alive and dead. Don't open the box.
He means the idea of for which we humans created.
He used "God" as a symbol for objective morality, absolute truth, and the foundation of Western meaning.
He argued that by embracing Enlightenment science, society had "killed" the need for God. He warned this would lead to nihilism (a loss of meaning) unless humanity actively created its own values.
I personally don't think the numbers mean much. Most people find God in prison, it's just one of those things. People believe weird things when they are alone with their thoughts for years.
No one “finds Jesus” when their life is going well ;)
OT: Epstein survivor gets in Todd Blanche's face:
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/VdGdQi3_QjY
If that sonofabitch gets confirmed ... well, it's just more of the same crap from an administration that doesn't give a rotten damn about the people it's supposed to serve.