Sunday, July 6, 2014

Atheist Thought Experiments Debunked: #1

                                                    +AJPM+

THE ANGEL POSSENTI:

Welcome to one of the new features on this blog called "Atheist Thought Experiments Debunked" where we look at logical scenarios that atheists clearly put no real thought in. In this first edition, I'd like to bring up an occasion I'm sure all Christian apologists have come across when arguing with atheists.

There you are, trying to prove how Christian morality (and by that I mean Catholic morality) is superior to all other moralities, but the atheist retorts with this:

"If Christian morality is superior, how come the vast majority of people in prison are Christians?"

Now, I would suggest you ask for the actual breakdown of prisoners, because I will bet you dollar for dollar they will produce a chart that looks EXACTLY like this:
Response Number %
---------------------------- --------
Catholic 29267 39.164%
Protestant 26162 35.008%
Muslim 5435 7.273%
American Indian 2408 3.222%
Nation 1734 2.320%
Rasta 1485 1.987%
Jewish 1325 1.773%
Church of Christ 1303 1.744%
Pentecostal 1093 1.463%
Moorish 1066 1.426%
Buddhist 882 1.180%
Jehovah Witness 665 0.890%
Adventist 621 0.831%
Orthodox 375 0.502%
Mormon 298 0.399%
Scientology 190 0.254%
Atheist 156 0.209%
Hindu 119 0.159%
Santeria 117 0.157%
Sikh 14 0.019%
Bahai 9 0.012%
Krishna 7 0.009%
---------------------------- --------
Total Known Responses 74731 100.001% 

Now, atheists claim this chart is from the Federal Bureau of Prisons, and it appears in not one but two works from the atheist Four Horsemen. 

Like other things atheists claim, this chart doesn't add up for several reasons:
- the chart makes no distinction between belief at the time of conviction and belief during the prison sentence
-Since Protestantism is defined as "a Christian that is neither a Catholic nor an Eastern Orthodox [Mormons don't count as Christians,  by the way]" and since it does mention other Christian branches, there is clearly double-counting going on.

Most key part?
The chart is 100%…FAKE. I've looked up and down the the FBP's website and I can't find the chart. 
Furthermore, even if the chart is real, the absolute latest date I've been able to find for it dates to 1999 so even if the numbers were right then, they have no relevance now.

I've thought for the longest time how best to refute the chart, and I've come up with the answer. What one should focus on is not the chart, but rather the question itself, especially the key word to it:
                                                                        MORAL

Why?
Consider for a moment all the reasons why someone is given a prison sentence; you can say murder or theft in some fashion,  rape or fraud. Whichever one you choose doesn't matter: what matters is the offense is serious enough for someone to go to jail for it.
Now consider this: while what's immoral and what's illegal are often not the same thing, they do agree on whichever one you just chose.

Why is this important? Because you can't say an action is morally wrong without first having a basis for saying it is immoral. In addition, if there is a rule saying action X is wrong, and you will be punished if you do it, but people do it anyway, wouldn't a more rational response be to put the blame on the rule breaker and not the rule itself? 

Speaking of rules…the rule of law and the entire legal system can trace its roots to partially the Roman Empire (which is why so many legal terms are in Latin) but mostly to…the Bible. 
Bet you didn't know that: the legal system we use every day comes from a Christian source. 

In other words, you can't say Christians are immoral when a) they actually have a moral code while atheism does not and b) you can't use a legal code Christianity put together then use it against Christian morality. 

That's not how it works. That's called theft.

On every single front, the question fails to prove much of anything. Another proof atheists are idiots.

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