Some interviewer asked him if he had a message for the families of the men who were killed in the incident he was involved in. His answer was a long convoluted mess that can be summed up as "Well God wouldn't let me have all this success if I was a bad person."

But to argue that he - or anyone - is "exploiting" religion in doing this is rather presumptuous. Who is to say they don't sincerely believe it?

Instead what this smacks of is religious bigotry. We return to the central notion so many believers cling to: that no one who is "truly" religious could do a bad thing. Ergo, only the non-religious commit crimes. Raw, ugly bigotry.

There are some bible verses that can be interpreted to support such a notion. Not every Christian agrees, but that's how some see it.

But I doubt we'll make much progress solving the problems with religion when both sides keep screaming that the other is following Satan.

the Satanists admit their greed.

Nothing personal, trotsky. I don't hate Xtians, only hypocrites.

From the perspective of the nation’s professional prison chaplains, America’s state penitentiaries are a bustle of religious activity. More than seven-in-ten (73%) state prison chaplains say that efforts by inmates to proselytize or convert other inmates are either very common (31%) or somewhat common (43%). About three-quarters of the chaplains say that a lot (26%) or some (51%) religious switching occurs among inmates in the prisons where they work. Many chaplains report growth from religious switching in the numbers of Muslims and Protestant Christians, in particular.

http://www.pewforum.org/government/religion-in-prisons.aspx

programs and religious groups.

It should be noted, however, that this survey did not include questions actually put to inmates, but only chaplains. So the results have to be taken in that context.

could be another problem here that is a foundation for how that works.

I don't think people are aware of their own consciousness in its (their own) dimensions, from aware, through less aware, all of the way to sub-conscious factors, like social affirmation, that produce what one "knows". Culturally, none of that "indeciveness", or cogitation, or self-reality-testing, is even allowed, or encouraged, or facilitated, or even just tolerated.

Are you saying that the "street criminals" in this study are lacking in the ability to be self-reflective, so fall back on the dogma they know and adapt it to justify their actions?

I wish I could tell you the number of times that students who were placed in my classes would just have this surprised realization about what Psychology is. Yes, there's some tendency to oversimplify this box of tools too and get all tooooo Freudian, or something, so appropriate facilitation is necessary, but at least it is the nature of science to APPROVE of questions, in this case questions about one's behavior and mental processes, unlike conventional religion, which rewards, in a way that is profoundly rewarding for "street criminals", NOT asking questions.

She suggests that understanding the strong ties to religion some of these offenders have will lead to a much better understanding of their underlying psychopathology. And that could lead to better interventions.

She also concludes that teaching them more about what their professed religion actually stands for would benefit them as well. They would then have to ask themselves whether they really believe what they way they believe.