Norsefire, you're a testament against religion
Norsefire said:
Religious people are less likely to commit crimes
In the first place, we must remember that crimes are violations of laws, and those laws have, almost entirely, been written by people who believe in God. It is, in fact, religious people who have created such a structure of law and society that raises so many criminals within its midst. Educational and economic considerations bear tremendous influence over crime statistics, but for some reason these religious folks keep passing laws that virtually ensure a steady supply of criminals.
If, for instance, the United States was truly a "Christian nation", we would have done more over the years to address poverty, which would have a tremendous downward influence on crime statistics. But these religious people are, as a general rule, demonstratively religious, and not truly religious. They're willing to set aside their belief in God whenever they think the price of fulfilling that principle gets too expensive, whether that cost is in taxes, time, or effort.
it gives people faith and culture
It is, generally, neither a faith nor culture to be proud of.
In the history of religion, you'll find a coincidence with the rest of political life. In the early days of Christianity, for instance, the orthodox did not win out because they were necessarily correct. Rather, they won out because they had stronger ambition and greater organization. Despite the fact that modern psychology and philosophy is finding merit in ancient gnosticism, the people went with orthodoxy because it was easier to just follow along like obedient sheep afraid of punishment.
Athiests are usually the people that have no respect for others, they curse, they do drugs......athiests.
And when it was just the Catholics banging children ...? But now we have regular news reports of protestant ministers fiddling with the kids, and even from Afghanistan we get reports that Muslim warlords are screwing little boys. Add to that the multibillion dollar televangelism fraud and the accusation by several megachurches that the First Amendment means that government has no right to stop them from fraudulently representing themselves and thereby stealing money ....
And think for a minute about drugs: Once upon a time Congress amended the Constitution and two thirds of the states ratified the principle that alcohol should be illegal. The next day, the nation woke up infested with criminals that did not exist the day before.
The same thing happened with marijuana in 1937. It will happen if e'er we outlaw nicotine.
In the meantime, relying on such generalizations doesn't help your case, Norsefire. Presenting yourself as being so rabidly irrational suggests primarily that you haven't much to contribute to important discussions about human beings and the societies they live in.
And as Superluminal pointed out, there are many believers in prison. Growing up near Tacoma, Washington during the gang explosion of the 1980s, recalling the death of Brenda Harris, whose car was riddled with automatic fire after she waved to a friend, it was quite hard to miss the number of gangsters who wore gold crosses. And it is even harder now to miss the number of brutal thugs who have religious imagery engraved on their bodies. You know, there are some who think tattooing the Virgin Mary on their bodies will protect them from bullets. I suppose, however, that's a step up from African theists, who
ate Pygmies believing it would protect them in combat. And as long as we're on Africa, I might as well drop a name: Joseph Kony. And while we're considering strange religious leaders, it's well enough to consider David Koresh, who liked banging little girls, and wonder when it is we're going to see a heavily-armed atheistic cult dedicated to the sexual exploitation of children. There is the tragic tale Pitcairn Island, where alleged Christians committed such ubiquitous sexual exploitation of women and children that the Pitcairn society is likely destroyed (2007 population is listed at 48).
I know your argument makes for a nice slogan, Norsefire, but ignoring the real causes of crime in order to indict atheism only suggests the severity of your own hatred.
You are embarrassing yourself. And the idea of God. And the idea of religion. Seriously, the character you play here is the kind of person that reminds the rest of the world of why we
wouldn't want to be religious. After all, if faith makes us behave and think
that way?
