Christianity inhibits US advancement

Con states" Con is waiting for the Burden of Proof (BoP) from Pro that “Christianity inhibits US advancement.” "and goes on to say" Pro [...] failed to prove how Christianity “has a negative impact on education. ” I argue that this is false, as I've demonstrated that Christianity is responsible for the fact that approximately half of Americans believe creation as presented in Genesis which contradicts the scientific consensus. It is quite apparent that this is not an isolated event, as Christianity also teaches that the Earth is around 6000 years old, while the USGS (cited in round 2) and the scientific community at large agree that the age for the Earth, and hence the Solar System, is shown to be 4.54 billion years with an uncertainty of less than 1 percent! (It is worth noting that this uncertainty allows for some debate on the exact age of the earth, but several billion years is quite a stark comparison to 6000 years.) It follows that Christianity fosters misbelief. This fact alone indicates that Christianity has a negative impact on education, fulfilling my BoP.Con also argues that" “Christian” schools did better or the same as public schools. " citing a study conducted by NAEP. Con fails to recognize that the study claims" The average private school mean reading score was 18.1 points higher than the average public school mean reading score [...] The only exception was that the average difference in adjusted school mean scores between Conservative Christian schools and all public schools was not significantly different from zero. " This suggests that while private school students benefited altogether, the private Conservative Christian school students did not benefit from attending private school versus a public school in regards to reading. The study also claims" The average private school mean mathematics score was 12.3 points higher than the average public school [...] The average difference in adjusted school means between Conservative Christian schools and all public schools was -7.6 points (i.e., a higher average school mean for public schools) and was significantly different from zero. "I'd like to emphasize the statement in parenthesis above: public schools had a higher math score than private Conservative Christian schools, despite the fact that private schools fared better than public schools overall. The study goes on to say" The data are obtained from an observational study rather than a randomized experiment, so the estimated effect should not be interpreted in terms of causal relationships. "The statement in bold above is a direct quote contained in the study, and brings additional discredit to Con's point of including the study to refute the resolution.Con then states" As for politics Pro's criteria centered on the “prime example: gay marriage.” " This is simply not true! The issue of gay marriage is a prime example of how religious political issues of little significance to the majority of the population (less than 4% of American adults are LGBT according to the Williams Institute review conducted in April 2011 [1]) are more renowned than more pertinent issues such as poverty which affects nearly 50 million Americans (16% of the population, including almost 20% of American children, lived in poverty in November 2012 according to the US Census Bureau[2]). As reported by the NY Times, the Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism found that in 52 major mainstream news outlets, combined coverage of poverty amounted to far less than 1 percent of all front-page articles [3]. Pro asserts that gay marriage would receive far less political attention and media coverage in the US if our largely Christian population did not agree that homosexuality is such an unfavorable (and therefore controversial) topic. This would allow for more focus on practical issues such as poverty, global warming etc. This also fulfills my BoP.Con closes by saying " If “Christianity inhibits US advancement,” why is it, that in a short period of 200-years, the US changed the world like no other society in recorded history [...] "As Pro stated in round 2, events of other times are insignificant in regards to the resolve which states 'Christianity inhibits US advancement.' Whether or not Christianity inhibited US advancement in the past is of no relevance to this debate. In fact, Con's rebuttals are overrun by numerous insignificant red herrings and questionable citations that do little to negate Pro's arguments.In closing, Pro has fulfilled the BoP by demonstrating that Christianity has a negative impact on education, scientific growth, politics, and therefore US advancement. Vote Pro.[1] http://williamsinstitute.law.ucla.edu...[2] http://washington.cbslocal.com...[3] http://www.nytimes.com...