Religion does more harm than good.

First off, thanks for taking the debate. Now let me say that it would be foolish of me to argue that government aren't to blame for certain acts of terrorism and wars (see; ongoing palestinian/israeli conflict). However like I've said, only religion can be cited as a direct cause of certain things. Suicide bombings for one. If there were no religion, the simple fact is people would not blow themselves up. I have not yet heard of one example of one example of someone blowing themselves up in the name of secularism and the rational mind. Another example which I touched on before, the bombing of abortion clinics. People wouldn't jeopardise their lives on this earth if they did not genuinely believe their own rhetoric. Going onto morality in religion, what seems to me to be clear is that the supposed 'morality' from religion is expunged from a mountain of what seems in our time to be incredible immoral behaviour. Some quotes following "O Prophet! Make war against the unbelievers [all non-Muslims] and the hypocrites and be merciless against them. Their home is hell, an evil refuge indeed." (Koran, 9:73) "Remember Allah inspired the angels: I am with you. Give firmness to the believers. I will instill terror into the hearts of the unbelievers: you smite them above their necks and smite all their fingertips off of them." (Koran, 8:12) "When we decide to destroy a population, we send a definite order to them who have the good things in life and yet sin. So that Allah's word is proven true against them, then we destroy them utterly." (Koran, 17:16-17) GE 38:9 "... whenever he lay with his brother's wife, he spilled his semen on the ground to keep from producing offspring for his brother. What he did was wicked ..., so the Lord put him to death." LE 26:22 "I will also send wild beasts among you, which shall rob you of your children." DT 20:16 "In the cities of the nations the Lord is giving you as an inheritance, do not leave alive anything that breathes." Now these are just three quotes from the bible and three quotes from the Quaran. There are many more out there that show these texts aren't things of morality. This has nothing to do with interpretation as of yet, interpretation is done by 'moderates' and 'extremists'. Simply looking at the texts, looking at quotes, and getting a general feel of the book, it is difficult to say that these books provide a solid moral compass. If anything, the perceived 'morality' of these texts are given by the interpretation of the humans reading it. Not the other way around. You make a comparison between religion and the state, however this is not my intention at all. Atheism, 'lack of faith' isn't connected at all with the state. Governments causing wars, should not be connected with 'atheism' starting wars because: A) I can't think of any heads of state that are openly atheist B) Much like religion causing some forms of terrorism, atheism is not a cause of inter-governmental wars. In fact I cannot think of one example of atheism being a direct cause of any atrocities whatsoever. I remind you that it must be caused by atheism, ie the Khmer Rouge destroying religion was not caused by atheism, rather, it was a side effect to Pol Pot's plan to take control of Cambodia. Same thing with Stalin destroying churches in Soviet Russia, it was not caused by his secularism but rather, it was caused by his intent of ruling his people with a new religion of Stalinism. It just seems to be that by definition, someone cannot commit an immoral or violent act in the name of disbelief. This idea of 'radical secularism, where nihilism reigns' is a strange one, you seem to be suggesting that somehow a lack of belief can be radicalised so that it is devoid of logic. As I've said before, I struggle to find one example of a state that is openly atheist, or even, one state that currently has the majority of the population that is atheist. From my research I think the biggest percentage of atheists in the world is about 19% in France (correct me if I'm wrong, this was done quickly).