No belief in prison

Vox Day, writer of the excellent book The Irrational Atheist demonstrated that the atheistic claim that atheists are more law abiding than the religious was pure hokum. He acknowledged that whilst self identified atheists were not common in prison, those professing no religion, the numbers that the atheists rely on to bulk up their numbers in the face of religious out-numbering, were in fact far more numerous than they should be as a proportion of the population.

To test this myself I contacted the New Zealand corrections department and asked if they kept records of inmate's religious beliefs. I found that they did indeed and the statistics made interesting reading.

The statistics I received showed that out of a prison population of 8073 in June 2007, 3852 professed no religion and another 1984 gave no answer.

Even if only the smaller number is used almost 48% of the prison population could be described as atheists. In a country where the majority identify as Christian that is a disproportionate number.

According to Statistics New Zealand as of 2006 about 35% of New Zealanders identified themselves as having no religion.

Religion: No. of Prisoners
ADVENTIST (NOT FURTHER DEFINED): 3
ANANDA MARGA: 2
ANGLICAN: 167
APOSTOLIC CHURCH OF NEW ZEALAND: 8
ASSEMBLIES OF GOD: 12
ASSOCIATED CHURCHES OF CHRIST: 3
ASSYRIAN ORTHODOX: 1
BAHA'I: 2
BAPTIST (NOT FURTHER DEFINED): 33
BIBLE BAPTIST: 2
BRAHMA KUMARIS: 1
BRETHREN (NOT FURTHER DEFINED): 3
BUDDHIST (NOT FURTHER DEFINED): 42
CATHOLIC (NOT FURTHER DEFINED): 331
CHINESE CHRISTIAN (NOT FURTHER DEFINED): 2
CHRISTIAN (NOT FURTHER DEFINED): 575
CHRISTIAN AND MISSIONARY ALLIANCE: 2
CHRISTIAN OUTREACH: 2
CHRISTIAN REVIVAL CRUSADE: 1
CHRISTIAN SCIENCE: 2
CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST OF THE LATTER DAY SAINTS: 164
CHURCHES OF CHRIST (NOT FURTHER DEFINED): 10
CONGREGATIONAL: 27
DRUSE: 2
ELIM: 1
EVANGELICAL (NOT FURTHER DEFINED): 5
GREEK ORTHODOX: 1
HARE KRISHNA: 1
HINDU (NOT FURTHER DEFINED): 21
ISLAM (NOT FURTHER DEFINED): 70
JAPANESE BUDDHIST: 3
JAPANESE RELIGION (NOT FURTHER DEFINED): 1
JEHOVAH'S WITNESS: 39
JUDAISM (NOT FURTHER DEFINED): 8
KOREAN CHRISTIAN (NOT FURTHER DEFINED): 1
LODGE: 1
LUTHERAN: 2
MAHIKARI: 1
MAORI CHRISTIAN (NOT FURTHER DEFINED): 24
MAORI RELIGION (NOT FURTHER DEFINED): 17
MARONITE CATHOLIC: 1
METHODIST: 64
NEW LIFE CENTRES: 1
NO RELIGION: 3852
NOT SPECIFIED: 274
NULL (no response entered): 1984
ORTHODOX: 1
OTHER INDIGENOUS CHRISTIAN: 7
OTHER NEW AGE RELIGIONS (NOT ELSEWHERE CLASSIFIED): 1
OTHER RELIGIONS (NOT ELSEWHERE CLASSIFIED): 8
PENTECOSTAL (NOT FURTHER DEFINED): 15
PRESBYTERIAN: 94
PROTESTANT (NOT FURTHER DEFINED): 6
RASTAFARIANISM: 3
RATANA: 217
REC CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST - LATTER DAY SAINTS: 4
RELIGION NOT KNOWN: 4
RELIGION UNIDENTIFIABLE: 9
RINGATU: 31
ROMAN CATHOLIC (LATIN RITE): 171
SALVATION ARMY: 17
SEVENTH DAY ADVENTIST: 30
SHIA: 5
SIKH: 3
SPIRITUALISM: 1
SUFI: 2
SUNI: 9
SWEDENBORGIAN (NEW JERUSALEM CHURCH): 1
THERAVADA BUDDHIST: 2
UNITED PENTECOSTAL: 4
ZEN BUDDHIST: 5
TOTAL: 8419
Muster as at report date (4 June 2007): 8073
Number of prisoners who named more than one religion: 346