A Greater Truth

Conventional wisdom has always assumed Religion = Morality.

Without religion, we have no morality, and without morality, we have no basis for ethical conduct in society.

Over the last 30 years, every time the pollsters have asked about Americans' "Faith Profile", the number of people self-identifying as Atheist goes up a little.

It's now believed to be anywhere from 5% (when respondents are asked directly) to a high of maybe 25-30% (in a study where the methodology was more subtle).

One thing I find pretty interesting is the possible confluence of a shifting Religious Profile and the changes in crime rates. (ie: a falling crime rate is coincidental with the rise in atheism)

We're told that religious people must be good people because they're religious, which invites the inference that atheists must be bad people because they don't have that religion thing to keep them in line.

But while a full-blown 70-80% of Americans in the general population are either affiliated with a specific religion, or at least self-identify as "religious / believers",  99.93% of the people in prison here in USAmerica Inc self-identify as "religious / believers".

Flip side: 5-30% of Americans at large are non-bleievers, while 0.07% of our prison population are non-believers.

This does not prove anything - gotta be careful with the whole Correlation thing. 

Not everybody lying down with their eyes closed is dead.

But, as we start this next silly season of electioneering and clownery, we need to leave all of the Purity Tests out of it - including the one where we try to measure a candidate's worth by their willingness to abdicate part of their responsibilities to an imaginary friend.