[quote]while it later goes on to point out that it's actually less than .02% it also points out that the statistics only account for the federal prison population of about 200,000 people and of those 200,000 only the people who chose to take part in the survey are counted[/quote]You completely took your link out of context and posted what suited you. For starters no consensus about anything is absolute, you should never take in statistics as 100% fact. Statistics can show trends and reveal information on matters. Here are other bits of your article.[quote]So… what do we learn from that information? Of the prisoners willing to give their religious affiliations (and that’s an important caveat), atheists make up 0.07% of the prison population. Not 1%. Not even the 0.2% we’ve been using for so long.Atheists constitute an even smaller percentage of the prison population than we ever imagined. (That includes prisoners whose affiliations were unknown. If I used Golumbaski’s method, the number would be 0.09%.) In addition to that, Protestants make up 28.7% of the prison population; Catholics, 24%; Muslims, 5.5%; American Indians, 3.1%. I’ve put together a bare-bones spreadsheet with these numbers here — feel free to do with that what you will. Keep in mind that these numbers only cover prisoners who self-reported their religious identification. They don’t represent all prisoners in the system. We will likely never have perfect numbers… but neither did Rod Swift. We’re also only talking about prisoners in the federal prison system — about 218,000 people — not all prisoners in America. Prisoners can change religious affiliations, too. We don’t know if these numbers represent what they believed when they committed their crime(s) or what they believed after they went through some personal transformation.[/quote] [quote]Given the data we have, and acknowledging its limits, self-professed atheists constitute an even smaller percentage of prisoners than we ever thought.[/quote][quote]Were we wrong to quote the 0.2% number for this long? Not necessarily… but I still don’t believe we had a good foundation for that. Using a shoddy website with no verifiable information as the basis for a claim we make is the type of thing we expect from religious people. We must be better than that.[/quote]He acknowledges the data isn't absolute but [b][u]there is still significance to the fact that of 200,000 people 0.07% identified with atheist.[/u][/b] [quote]TL;DR OP's statistic is so flawed that it's basically meaningless[/quote]Thats not true, you twisted the link you posted to fit your false counter claim. The article you linked concludes that the data isn't absolute (which no consensus is) but it still has value. But of course i am sure you just picked through what fit your counter argument instead of reading the whole thing.

[quote][quote]while it later goes on to point out that it's actually less than .02% it also points out that the statistics only account for the federal prison population of about 200,000 people and of those 200,000 only the people who chose to take part in the survey are counted[/quote]You completely took your link out of context and posted what suited you. For starters no consensus about anything is absolute, you should never take in statistics as 100% fact. Statistics can show trends and reveal information on matters. Here are other bits of your article.[quote]So… what do we learn from that information? Of the prisoners willing to give their religious affiliations (and that’s an important caveat), atheists make up 0.07% of the prison population. Not 1%. Not even the 0.2% we’ve been using for so long.Atheists constitute an even smaller percentage of the prison population than we ever imagined. (That includes prisoners whose affiliations were unknown. If I used Golumbaski’s method, the number would be 0.09%.) In addition to that, Protestants make up 28.7% of the prison population; Catholics, 24%; Muslims, 5.5%; American Indians, 3.1%. I’ve put together a bare-bones spreadsheet with these numbers here — feel free to do with that what you will. Keep in mind that these numbers only cover prisoners who self-reported their religious identification. They don’t represent all prisoners in the system. We will likely never have perfect numbers… but neither did Rod Swift. We’re also only talking about prisoners in the federal prison system — about 218,000 people — not all prisoners in America. Prisoners can change religious affiliations, too. We don’t know if these numbers represent what they believed when they committed their crime(s) or what they believed after they went through some personal transformation.[/quote] [quote]Given the data we have, and acknowledging its limits, self-professed atheists constitute an even smaller percentage of prisoners than we ever thought.[/quote][quote]Were we wrong to quote the 0.2% number for this long? Not necessarily… but I still don’t believe we had a good foundation for that. Using a shoddy website with no verifiable information as the basis for a claim we make is the type of thing we expect from religious people. We must be better than that.[/quote]He acknowledges the data isn't absolute but [b][u]there is still significance to the fact that of 200,000 people 0.07% identified with atheist.[/u][/b] [quote]TL;DR OP's statistic is so flawed that it's basically meaningless[/quote]Thats not true, you twisted the link you posted to fit your false counter claim. The article you linked concludes that the data isn't absolute (which no consensus is) but it still has value. But of course i am sure you just picked through what fit your counter argument instead of reading the whole thing.[/quote] Ok for starters I posted the link so people can read it for them selves and know the rest and that im not leaving anything out. i didnt quote the whole thing because that would be way to long and of people wished to read more then thats what the link is for. Also the rest of the article(that you quoted) just reaffirms what i said, that the statistic is horribly flawed and cannot be used to state that almost all federal prisoners are theists

You were trying to claim the data has no value when it does again obviously its not absolute but you can't just completely dismiss it

[quote]You were trying to claim the data has no value when it does again obviously its not absolute but you can't just completely dismiss it[/quote] im saying that the statistic is almost meaningless No matter how you cut it. The statistic you posted cannot be used to back up a claim that almost all federal prisoners are theist and it certainly cant be used to claim that atheists have better morals than theists as the statistic is [b]very[/b] flawed and even then it only accounts for federal prisoners.

[quote]im saying that the statistic is almost meaningless[/quote]If i were to phrase it better it wouldn't be as meaningless. The main point i wanted to make is The stereotype against atheist is not true, the data [u]supports[/u] it, it doesn't make it absolutely true [quote]No matter how you cut it. The statistic you posted cannot be used to back up a claim that almost all federal prisoners are theist and [u]it certainly cant be used to claim that atheists have better morals than theists[/u] as the statistic is [b]very[/b] flawed and even then it only accounts for federal prisoners.[/quote]In regards to what i underlined, your misinterpreting the post no where did i say atheist have better morals. I was trying disprove a stereotype and prove beliefs don't necessarily tie in with morals. In that regard the statistic is valuable.[b][u]THERE IS[/u][/b] significance to the fact that 200,000 people self reported their beliefs and 0.07% reported atheist.

[quote][quote]im saying that the statistic is almost meaningless[/quote]If i were to phrase it better it wouldn't be as meaningless. The main point i wanted to make is The stereotype against atheist is not true, the data [u]supports[/u] it, it doesn't make it absolutely true [quote]No matter how you cut it. The statistic you posted cannot be used to back up a claim that almost all federal prisoners are theist and [u]it certainly cant be used to claim that atheists have better morals than theists[/u] as the statistic is [b]very[/b] flawed and even then it only accounts for federal prisoners.[/quote]In regards to what i underlined, your misinterpreting the post no where did i say atheist have better morals. I was trying disprove a stereotype and prove beliefs don't necessarily tie in with morals. In that regard the statistic is valuable.[b][u]THERE IS[/u][/b] significance to the fact that 200,000 people [b]self reported[/b] their beliefs and 0.07% reported atheist.[/quote] Self reported being the operative phrase here. And i do not believe that it is a widely held stereotype that atheists in general have poor morals. And again the data doesn't support either side due to its lack of validity. Anyway i just got a new game and im eager to play it so im gona be on my way now, good day to you.