That raises so many points it`s hard to clarify a conclusive comment, that article should be an A level question.
I only "get" religion myself when I see the passion it can bring out in people, and I respect that in itself.
I thought your comments were thoughtful, and I assume you were put on the spot with the questions.
In actual fact, I think it is a pointless survey to have released, I agree with the idea of the research, but I don`t think it needed publishing at this stage.

What a surprise that, in a country where the majority religion is Anglican Christian, the majority of offenders are Anglican Christian.

Meaningless.

It's good that on this occasion they have actually talked to ex-cons. So often we hear from so called experts on prisoners and prison life who have never spent any time inside or properly listened to inmates. However, I think that no real conclusions can be drawn from this study. Well done, JK, for your comments.

Strange to say, I pointed a similar bump in the US prison statistics... One zealot said that was due to the 'great' out reach programs most jails have. They fell silent when I pointed out that the same federal statistics also show a 98% recidivist intake... and most of those lads must be 'Good' Chrisitans...

As to the passion thing raised by another poster... well you could say the same thing about Lynch mobs and Mods Vs. Rockers... passion is no guarantor of correctness...