Christians and Crime

Here are statistics about religious affiliations of those in prison (which could be interpreted as an undesireable outcome, I would think)http://www.holysmoke.org/icr-pri.htm The Federal Bureau of Prisons does have statistics on religiousaffiliations of inmates.

I am willing to concede that the vast majority of folks who are on death row, the vast majority of people who do abortions and have abortions, and the vast majority of those that lie, cheat, steal, and get divorced in his country come from Christian households and call themselves Christians. But I consider these statisics to be interesting but not especially revealing as the definition of who is a Christian is so broad as to be probably meaningless.

Would you agree that as these people are self-identifying as Christian that they probably had at least a moderaterly religious background?

I don't know. In the US at least, "Christian" appears to be the default self-definition.

"Are you Jewish?"

"Nope"

"Are you Hindu?"

"Are you joking?"

"Are you atheist?"

"Whatzat?"

"Oh, you must be a Christian?"

"Whatever."

This kind of self-definition may mean nothing more than that person hears "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" every December. The "no true Scot" fallacy cuts both ways.

Are you saying that they are not "true Christians" because they engage in activities that fundamentalist Christianity disapproves of?

I"m saying that the phrase "true Christian" is not meaningful as an objective category.