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Crime correlates inversely with levels of religious conviction


"While 15 percent of all Americans identify themselves as having no religious beliefs, the Federal Bureau of Prisons reports that nonbelievers make up only two-tenths of 1 percent of its inmates. (Christians constitute about 80 percent of the American population and 75% of its prisoners). A ten-year study of death-row inmates at Sing-Sing found that 91% of those executed for murder were Christians, less than a third of 1 percent atheists.

Similar anticorrelations between religion and crime are found internationally. Only 20% of Europeans say God plays an important part in their lives, as opposed to 60% of Americans, but Europe's crime rates are lower than America's. Denmark and Sweden rank among the most atheistic nations in the world - up to three quarters of their citizens identify themselves as nonbelievers - yet these Godless souls somehow enjoy admirably lower levels of corruption and violent crime while scoring near the top of the international happiness indices."

Intrigued? This is from p. 179 from The Science of Liberty by Tim Ferris.

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