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My apologies to WhiskeyClone for not yet writing the 'Ultimate Christian Bashing' thread.

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As the difference in immoral acts is not lower among religious groups than non-religious group

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TameMe said:
In fact, last semester, in Social Psychology...the stats show that crimes are committed less by religious people.

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TameMe said:
I'm in agreement with Crasher.

In fact, last semester, in Social Psychology...the stats show that crimes are committed less by religious people.

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In 2005, about 1 out of every 136 U.S. residents was incarcerated either in prison or jail.[13] The total amount being 2,320,359, with 1,446,269 in state and federal prisons and 747,529 in local jails.

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There is no sociologically valid basis for comparing "theists to nontheists" with regards to incarceration rates (or any other sociological measure) because "theists" do not constitute an identifiable social group. The fact that non-practicing (functionally nonreligious) people are highly over-represented among prisoners is a separate issue, apart from questions relating to belief and philosophical position.
To consider incarceration rates of "atheists" vs. "theists" is like comparing Hispanics to non-Hispanics. While it may be possible to group figures that way, it doesn't make a lot of sense to do so. Non-Hispanics are better broken down into Asians, African-Americans and Whites (if one doesn't further break them down by other factors such as age, education, etc.) Likewise, it makes no sense to group all non-atheists together, as if Amish, Muslims, Quakers, Baha'is, Hindus, Presbyterians, Orthodox Jews, Baptists, Deists, Lutherans, Unitarians, Rastafarians, Wiccans, etc., all exhibited similar behavior. Obviously some of these groups exhibit relatively little criminal behavior, while others would exhibit relatively more criminal behavior. Certain crimes are more prevalent among certain groups. 85% of Americans cite a specific religious affiliation. So if you combine figures for people of all religious affiliations you get essentially the same figure that you would get for the whole U.S. population. The figure would only be different if essentially all religious groups were skewed in one direction, which they are not.

A person's philosophical position about the existence of God is distinct from that person's ethical behavior. A person's position on this single point is not a predictor of ethical or criminal behavior, any more than a person's preference for country vs. rock music. Atheism does not necessarily equate to criminal or unethical behavior, just as a professed belief in God does not necessarily preclude criminal or unethical behavior.

One problem faced by some religious writers as well as some atheist writers who have tried to equate religious belief or atheism with criminal behavior (and probably a major reason why there is no empirical data to support either contention) is that a person's philosophical position on this one point is not the major factor in determining criminal behavior. Factors such as level of income, employment/non-employment, level of education, race, geographical region, age, sex, etc. are all tracked by the government and other organizations. All of these characteristics correlate more readily to criminal behavior. (GLBT status, on the other hand, has not been shown to correlate generally to incarceration rate, although it is highly correlated with pedophilia. According to gay researchers Karla Jay and Allen Young, 73 percent of the gay men they report having engaged in sex with boys 16 to 19 years of age or younger; 86 percent of convicted child molesters who molested boys describe themselves as homosexual or bisexual. See also: World Net Daily article; More)

There is no monolithic group of "theists." This is a term that describes a philosophical position (as identified by atheists), not a self-identifying group of people. People may congregate with other Catholics, other Muslims, other hockey fans at a sports event, other Stephen King fans at a book club, other mothers at a play group, other gays at a bar, etc. but "theists" do not come together as a single group, and do not exhibit an identifiable pattern of social behavior. Likewise, atheists are not a monolithic group, and most atheists are not formally affiliated with any organization based on their atheism. Like theists, atheists are found among all races, ages, levels of income, religions, etc., and those factors are going to correlate far more readily to statistically predictable patterns of social behavior, including levels of incarceration.

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TameMe said:
I'm in agreement with Crasher.

In fact, last semester, in Social Psychology...the stats show that crimes are committed less by religious people.

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OrgoneConclusion said:
2. People join/follow such religions allegedly because they believe in the teachings.

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OrgoneConclusion said:

As the difference in immoral acts is not lower among religious groups than non-religious group (in general) then we MUST conclude one or both of the following:

1. The rules are impossible to follow.

2. The followers really don't give a damn about pleasing their God and/or walking their chosen path beyond lip service.

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Why do I cover the same tired, old ground? Simple! Because I rarely get a straightforward answer to my reasonable queries.

Let's try again.

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GLBT status, on the other hand, has not been shown to correlate generally to incarceration rate, although it is highly correlated with pedophilia. According to gay researchers Karla Jay and Allen Young, 73 percent of the gay men they report having engaged in sex with boys 16 to 19 years of age or younger; 86 percent of convicted child molesters who molested boys describe themselves as homosexual or bisexual.

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1. Religions lay out a set of laws to follow to get closer to or to please their God(s).

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2. People join/follow such religions allegedly because they believe in the teachings.

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3. Therefore religious members should diligently attempt to follow the teachings and avoid sin.

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As the difference in immoral acts is not lower among religious groups than non-religious group (in general)

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1. The rules are impossible to follow.

2. The followers really don't give a damn about pleasing their God and/or walking their chosen path beyond lip service.

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No shoes, no shirt, no service.

Your logic is flawed and based on sweeping generalizations without intimate knowledge of all individual religions which are painted with the same brush.

The title "The Generic Religion Bashing thread" would be the only correct concept in your threadstarting post were it not your line of reasoning is specific, not generic.

Your use of language is correct however.

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As the difference in immoral acts is not lower among religious groups than non-religious group (in general)

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PROVE IT. You cannot. In fact it is blatantly false because the Satanic Church encourages and expects people to engage in immoral acts. Generalizing once more are we?

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I think you may have missed the "is not lower" part.    He also qualified this statement with "in general," so it has already been established that he is generalizing.

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What I don't understand is what you hope to accomplish here? 

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Even more puzzling is the folks that know I am a broken record and yet still wander in to counter my lame arguments with even lamer counter-arguments.

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Senor_Hongos said:
86 percent of convicted child molesters who molested boys describe themselves as homosexual or bisexual.

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OrgoneConclusion said:

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What I don't understand is what you hope to accomplish here? 

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Even more puzzling is the folks that know I am a broken record and yet still wander in to counter my lame arguments with even lamer counter-arguments.

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