Taoism is the One True Religon

1. AcceptanceI accept. I'd like to thank my opponent for creating this debate. I look forward to a good discussion on the topic at hand!2. Burden of ProofI'd like to note that my opponent is responsible for shouldering the full burden of proof in this debate. In order to win the debate, he must prove that "Taoism is the One True Religion". I wish my opponent the best of luck.3. Rebuttal"The opponent must show that the claims of 1-5 are logically inconsistent, factually incorrect, or contain implications that a decent human being could not live with or be proud to acknowledge."I will begin by responding to my opponents five points regarding Taoism, then I will move on to presenting my own arguments against the claim that "Taoism is the One True Religion".1. These books are infallibly correct.What reason has my opponent given to think that any books are infallibly correct? This is a mere assertion without any hint of justification.2. These books possess all that is good in other religions, and none of what is bad (like offensive violence, char-broiling in hell, etc.)Again, this is a very strong claim. My opponent asserts that these books contain "all that is good" and none of "what is bad". These kinds of assertions also require some kind of warrant. Furthermore, my opponent has not shown what "good" or "bad" is. What reason have we been given to think that "char-broiling in hell" is a bad thing? Are the teachings of other religions found in the books of Taoism inherently good, or are they good simply because they are found in the books of Taoism? If they are inherently good, I would ask my opponent to elaborate on just how he came to know exactly what is "good" and what is "bad". If they are good only because they are found in the books of Taoism, then we have been presented with circular reasoning.3. If Taoism is not true, in fact, then there is no possibility for using logic and reason, for logic and reason already assume theexistence of the Great and Mysterious Tao. Even those unacquainted with the Three Holy Scriptures of Taoism use the Tao without being aware of it. Therefore, Taoism is the Mother Truth of all human thought.This is false. Logic and reason in no way assume the existence of Tao. If my opponent really believes this, then once again I ask him to bring forward his evidence. Logic and reason exist independent of Taoism. Taoism was formed in 550 B.C. This means that there have been over 197,000 years of human existence without Taoism. If Taoism really is the "mother truth of all human thought" then it seems that my opponent believes humans were not capable of even thinking for over 197,000 years. http://www.patheos.com...4. Nicholas Cage is a Taoist.If anything, this would only serve as evidence against Taoism (sorry, I couldn't help it). This is, of course, not real evidence. Nicholas Cage does not prove Taoism true any more than Tom Cruise proves scientology true.5. Haikus are neat.No disagreement here, but I'd just point out that this too does not serve as any kind of evidence to support the idea that "Taoism is the One True Religion".4. Arguments1. Cosmology of TaoismIn the cosmology of Taoism, it is believed that the universe continually recreates itself. But the very idea of something creating itself is clearly incoherent. Taoism also holds that the "five elements" (wood, fire, metal, water, and earth) are the origin of all things. However, wood is only about 400 million years old. This means that there have been over 13 billion years of universal existence without wood. As such, we have no reason to believe that wood is something from which "all other things" come about.http://taoism.about.com...2. The gods and spirits of TaoismTaoism is a religion full of both gods and spirits. However, there is not a shred of evidence to support the idea of the existence of any Taoist gods and/or spirits. This seems to me to be a case of absence of evidence being evidence of absence. I invite my opponent to bring forth his evidence.http://www.bbc.co.uk...I will bring forward further arguments in a later round if necessary. It should be remembered that even if I were not able to bring forward a single argument against Taoism (which I have already done) it is still the responsibility of my opponent to prove Taoism true.5. Summary I have refuted each of my opponents' five points which attempted to prove Taoism to be the "One True Religion". As there stands not a single reason to think Taoism is true, my opponent has all of his work ahead of him in order to shoulder the burden of proof in showing that "Taoism is the One True Religion".6. Sourceshttp://www.patheos.com...http://taoism.about.com...http://www.bbc.co.uk...