Al Westerfield: Atheists victims of hypocrisy by some groups

Saturday, June 29, 2013

The godless commit less crime, have longer marriages and are more highly
educated than almost any other group in America.

According to Federal Bureau of Prisons data, the number of responding
people in prison acknowledging they were Catholic was 39 percent;
Protestant, 35 percent; Muslim, 7 percent; Jewish, 2 percent; and
godless, 0.2 percent (20 percent did not respond).

Since the number of godless is estimated to be 10 percent of the general
population, all things being equal you would expect their prison
population to be 10 percent.

If, as many people assume, the godless do not lead moral lives, you
would expect the number to be greater than 10 percent. The fact that the
actual number is 50 times less than expected can lead to only one of two
conclusions: either the godless commit less crime than the religious or
they’re too smart to get caught very often.

According to a Barna Research Group report, fundamentalist Christians
have the highest divorce rate, followed by Jews and Baptists. The
godless are tied with Catholics and Lutherans for the lowest divorce
rate. It seems that some groups that claim to follow the Bible most
strictly are not putting their money where their mouths are. The godless
who are thought to be without morals seem to take their vows more seriously.

According to a Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life Survey, the
least-educated Americans are Jehovah’s Witnesses, followed by black
Protestants and fundamentalist Christians. The most highly educated are
reformed Jews, followed by Unitarian Universalists and the godless.

Some groups seem to like their flocks ignorant so that pastors’
interpretations of God’s edicts are not questioned. Other groups prize
scholarship and achieve more in their lives here on Earth.

In fact, a review of worldwide studies found that criminality and
religion go hand in hand. The countries with the most religious people
have the highest crime rates, highest sexually transmitted diseases and
the highest teen pregnancy rates.

This is also true in the United States. The more religious a state’s
population, the higher the crime, STD and teen pregnancy rates. The
report does say that the religious are happier than the secular but
posits that the ostracism of the latter may be a major cause.

So what conclusion can be reached? It is obvious that you do not have to
believe in a higher power in order to live a moral and successful life.
Quite the opposite.

I won’t attempt to claim a correlation of religion with crime,
infidelity and ignorance. However, it is total hypocrisy for those in
such groups to claim that the godless are not and cannot be moral. Yet
in a recent study atheists were believed to be no more trustworthy than
rapists.

In spite of this easily obtained information, the groups with the
highest crime rate, the poorest marriages and the lowest education
continually strive to force their beliefs on the nonreligious. And the
politicians pander to them. Why else would they pass laws to put
religion in the schools and on courthouse facades? And then they wonder
why the godless could possibly be upset.


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