The affect of Christianity has had an positive affect on humankind overall

====================================================== Contention 1: The Bible upholds human dignity and has supported the sanctity of life ====================================================== {*This Law firstly, is in the Old Testament, which means that it no longer applies to Christians, in fact all of the laws of the Old Testament no longer apply to us today*} My opponent claims that the Old Testament no longer applies to Christians, but I have to ask, why is it still in the Bible if it is irrelevant? If we say that it no longer applies, then neither does Genesis, Adam and Eve, Noah's Ark, or the 10 Commandments, which are all core beliefs of Christianity. My opponent accuses me of taking Bible quotes out of context and compares it to calling a fiction book an abomination because it talks about slavery. The problem is that the Bible is not meant to be fiction, it's supposed to be taken as truth. It's not like the Bible is saying that there was killing from a third person perspective. I can actually quote the Bible where Yahweh himself commands and condones violent acts. Nothing was taken out of context and the only defense I've ever heard was that the people deserved to be violently attacked or killed, which is a weak excuse. My point concerning a cheap dollar and cent value of people has been left uncontended. He tried to attribute this to the Levites as if it were something they did amongst themselves. However, these values were assigned directly by Yahweh. ======================================================== Contention 2: The Bible has created a base, from which societies can grow and flourish ======================================================== {*My point with these quotes is to show that many of the founding fathers WERE religious, if not Christians. So, would you say that they just forgot their religion when they created the Constitution? I think not.*} My opponent argues that the Constitution was influenced by religion, however he fails to realize that James Madison, who was against religion, was the primary author of the Constitution. That's why he's called the "Father of the Constitution." [1] "Religious bondage shackles and debilitates the mind and unfits it for every noble enterprise." - James Madison [2] "Experience witnesseth that ecclesiastical establishments, instead of maintaining the purity and efficacy of religion, have had a contrary operation. During almost fifteen centuries has the legal establishment of Christianity been on trial. What has been its fruits? More or less, in all places, pride and indolence in the clergy; ignorance and servility in the laity; in both, superstition, bigotry and persecution." - James Madison [2] =========================================== Contention 3: Christianity teaches that we should care for the poor =========================================== My opponent really didn't refute this point. He attempted to make the quotes not look as bad. But again, the Bible has some verses telling us to care for the poor, and others that condemn poor people. These two contradictory ideas really just make the Bible irrelevant because they cancel each other out and you're left with nothing. ===================================== Contention 4: Christianity teaches peace between people ===================================== My opponent points out that the violent acts of Yahweh are not promotions of the violent acts. There's two problems with this. I can point to many, many verses of the Bible where Yahweh directly commands people to stone people or wipe out entire nations. The other problem is that, even if Yahweh committed violent acts without promoting them, he is a role-model for the people. He's the all-loving, wise, omnibenevolent God and if people see him wipe out 1,000,000 Ethiopians, it indicates that these acts are OK and noble. "Happy shall he be, that taketh and dasheth thy little ones against the stones." - Psalms 137:9 The contention is that Christianity teaches peace, yet he tells us that the Bible says there's a time for peace and a time for war. He also wants to disregard the Old Testament and proclaim that it's irrelevant to Christianity. Fine, even if we were to grant that and leave us with the New Testament, look what we have here: "I came not to bring peace, but a sword." - Jesus [3] "Suppose ye that I am come to give peace on earth? I tell you, Nay; but rather division." - Jesus [3] "He that hath no sword, let him sell his garment, and buy one." - Jesus [3] It is clear that Christianity DOES NOT teach peace, but violence and division. ========== Cons of Religion ========== {*Religion is NOT opposed to the pursuit of truth, it merely gives you an absolute truth to start with.*} How can you pursue truth if you beLIEve you already found it? What Christianity proclaims as truth, is an unchanging truth (much has already been proven fallacy) not open to new knowledge that is contradictory to it. {*The Christian religion does not advocate the hindrance of scientific discovery. Why? Because God created this awesome world for us to discover, why would he decide to try to "keep us in the dark?" It makes no sense. I would argue that science has never truly found something contradictory to scripture, nothing that we are absolutely sure of that is speculations and hypothesis may contradict religion however true scientific laws do not.*} First Law of Thermodynamics states that matter and energy cannot be created nor destroyed. Christianity ignores that and still says that God created matter. Science says that we evolved into the complex beings we are now, Christianity says the space daddy made us from sand and a rib in an instant. Science says miracles (that defy scientific laws) can't happen, Christianity says they do. ======= Conclusion ======= I affirm that Christianity most certainly is a force evil in the world. The fact that it's disguised as morally superior makes it more dangerous. There are toxic teachings and the very nature of religion is opposed to science and philosophy. Religion is a concrete, unchanging belief system while science and philosophy are always growing, progressing, and adding more new knowledge. I thank you all for reading this controversial debate. Sources: [1] http://www.thefreelibrary.com... [2] http://afgen.com... [3] http://www.skepticsannotatedbible.com...