From Conservapedia

Concerning the irreligious prison population, in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, according to the 2011 Census, the irreligious make up only "around a quarter of the population."[1] However, they are over-represented in the prison population, forming over 34% of all criminals.[2][3] Theodore Beale declared: "While the USA doesn't keep comprehensive statistics related to religion, the UK does..."[4]

These statistics confirm recent scientific research, which has concluded that "the more involved people are with religious life, the less likely they are to fall into criminal behavior." (see: Religion and crime reduction).[5]

Religion and crime reduction statistics

See also: Religion and crime reduction

There is a significant body of research indicating that religion reduces criminality (see: Religion and crime reduction);

See also: Atheists in U.S. prisons argument and atheist morality and Western atheism and race and Demographics of atheism

The atheist Heina Dadabhoy published at the atheist website Skepchick an article entitled Fellow Atheists: Quit Bragging About Our Prison Underrepresentation which declared concerning the United States prison population:

“ Atheism is a movement comprised mostly of middle-to-upper-class white people. A middle-to-upper-class white person is far less likely to be incarcerated than a poor person and/or a person of color. The only way atheists as a whole might be less likely to be incarcerated than theists would be if we were a female-majority community. Atheism is hardly the cause of white middle-to-upper-class people’s underrepresentation in the prison population, injustice in the criminal justice system is... Intersectional issues aside, being arrested and convicted means being caught breaking the law. Would most of us atheists consider, say, possession of small amounts of marijuana to be a crime worthy of incarceration, let alone an immoral act? Yet prisons teem with non-violent drug offenders. As for being caught, I will return to the example of marijuana. How many of us class and race privileged* atheists would be imprisoned for drug possession had it not been for residence in low-density housing in areas rarely patrolled by the police? Living in a detached home reduces the likelihood of a neighbor or passer-by reporting drug use to the authorities but is hardly an indicator of superior moral character. Given that we’re a movement of people not exactly known for dealing so well, if at all, with issues of race or class.[7] ”

For more information, please see: Atheists in U.S. prisons argument and atheist morality

FiveThirtyEight on atheists in prison statistics

See also: FiveThirtyEight on atheists in prison statistics

FiveThirtyEight is a prominent website that focuses on opinion poll analysis, politics and other matters.

Mona Chalabi wrote at FiveThirtyEight made some similar argument to Heina Dadabhoy, but she also added a few additional arguments:

“ So what explains these discrepancies between religious affiliation inside prisons and outside them? I’ll set out a couple of possible theories. 1. Maybe it’s income. We know that Muslims and Americans who identify with historically black Protestant churches tend to have lower incomes than the national average. And we know that 44 percent of federal prisoners earned less than $1,500 in the month prior to their arrest (I’m afraid the last time prisoners’ income was surveyed was in 2004, though, and those are 2004 dollars). 2. Maybe it’s race. We know that even though African-Americans represented only 13 percent of the U.S. population in 2013, they represented 36 percent of the prison population. And we know that Muslims are almost twice as likely to be African-American as the U.S. population as a whole. (I think race is also probably relevant when we’re thinking about the over-representation of Rastafarians and Santerians in prison too.) 3. Maybe it’s immigration. We know that most American Muslims immigrated to the U.S. sometime after 1992. And we know that 12 percent of the federal prison population is described as “non-citizens” (a term that means they’re foreign-born and, according to Ed Ross, a spokesman at the Bureau of Prisons, entered the country illegally). 4. Maybe it’s conversion. Ross explained that prisons collect information on religious affiliation from inmates as part of the intake screening process. That information gets stored as part of their case management. But, he added, “anywhere along the way, inmates can have their information changed to reflect a change in their religious status. Anyone can find god or lose god while in prison.”... Though almost all of the state prison chaplains describe spending their time organizing religious programs, many suggest that religious influence is coming from elsewhere in the system. Seventy-four percent of the chaplains said that efforts by inmates to proselytize or convert other inmates are either very common (31 percent) or somewhat common (43 percent) in the prisons where they work.[8] ”

There are also many churches/ministries that do outreach to prison inmates in the United States. In addition, the ministry Prison Fellowship is a leading advocated for criminal justice system reform in the United States.

Jesus Christ told his disciples a parable about visiting people who are incarcerated which states:

“ I was in prison, and you came to Me... Then the righteous will answer Him, ‘Lord,.. When did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’ The King will answer and say to them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.’ - Matthew 25: 36, 37, 39-40 (NASB)[9] ”

Chalabi also wrote: "Conversely, prisoners are far less likely to be Protestant than the rest of the country."[10] See also: Protestant cultural legacies

Atheism and stealing

Irreligion, illegitimate births and criminality

See: Atheism, illegitimate births and criminality

Atheism and repressive prisons

See: Atheism and repressive prisons

Atheists in prison: Controversies about statistics

As alluded to above, Theodore Beale declared in 2011: "While the USA doesn't keep comprehensive statistics related to religion, the UK does..."[11]

Furthermore, the atheist Luke Muehlhauser at the website Common Sense Atheism indicated in 2009:

“ To show that atheists are morally better than Christians, some atheists claim that less than one percent of imprisoned Americans are atheist, even though atheists represent 10% of the population. Such statistics are either made up or based on a questionable 1925 study. In truth, “the segment of the prison population which self-identifies as non-religious is approximately twice as large as found in the general population.”[12] ”

Although some American atheists like to claim the unaffiliated (unaffiliated with organized religion), "nones" or "no religion" on religious surveys as one of their own, fewer than 15% of the "nones" consider themselves atheists.[13] Another issue is people have different definitions of the word atheism.

See also: Prison Incarceration and Religious Preference at Adherents.com

The website Christian Rethinker indicated in 2008:

“ There are some statistics that atheists love to repeat. One of them is this: “About 8-16% of America’s population are atheists, but only 0.21% of the prison population are.” This page is apparently their source for that. It gives the numbers for prison inmates, and their reported religious groupings, on 5 March 1997. (I wonder why do no atheist ever mention a more recent study? Is this particular 11-year old study the one with results that best match their agenda?) But wait a minute. These numbers apparently also say that 19,7% of the prisoners population chose not to answer this question, or was perhaps not asked, or perhaps just ticked a box named “other religious view” without naming their view in it. Now, the prisoners that were not asked are probably not much different from anyone else. We do not know how many of those were numbered in the sample. But the prisoners who chose not to answer? It make perfect sense that an atheist will be less likely to honestly answer that question. (It may indirectly affect his chances for parole, for instance.) And with a tick box for “Catholic” or “Muslim”, but none for atheist, it is likely that some atheists will be among those who just tick “other” without filling in the word atheist.[14] ”

On the other hand, the pro-atheism website Humanist.com claims about atheists in U.S. prisons:

“ "...at 0.10 percent, atheism still represents a tiny percentage of the religious identities of inmates in federal prison, though that number has risen slightly since 2013, when atheists made up 0.07 percent of the federal prison population.[15] ”

See also