Religious beliefs are false.

As such, I was unable to provide counterpoints as there existed no points to counter. Recap: my opponent has selected the Argument from Design, Or similarly the Watchmaker argument. In essence, This suggests that the universe is too well designed, "contains too much order for our existence to have been created out of chaos". My opponent attempts to further strengthen her argument by stating that hydrogen lacks an apparent creator other than god. The Argument for Design implies that an apparently designed object must have a designer. A watch, For example, Does not appear out of anything. 1. Any design requires a designer More complex objects should be able to design less complex objects, As per logic. 2. The designer must be more complex than its design Using this, Any object can be traced back to its ultimate creator, The Big Bang. The singularity of the BB appears to be of design, So it must also have a designer. Thus, God must be the designer to end the cycle. Instead of ending this infinite regress, However, The existence of god viciously aggravates it. God seems very much a designed object. Following the Argument from Design, There must be a designer for god. This designer must furthermore be more complex than god. That object must have an even more complex designer, And so on. The infinite cycle continues undeterred. There is no "true" god at the end of this cycle of gods and "super"gods: that "true" god must have a designer, And therefore is not the "true"god. Ergo, God does not exist. So what did create the BB, And by extension the universe? I don't know. That is the beauty of science: although it strives for perfect and ultimate knowledge, Science acknowledges that such knowledge is unattainable. Science is also not afraid to admit to gaps in its knowledge. Religion, However, Pretends that it has already attained ultimate knowledge. It clings fiercely to that claim and fabricates answers for the questions which no one can answer. A question of my contestant is "what created hydrogen? Did it just come out of nowhere? " According to the BBT, Everything was created when the singularity of the BB exploded. The origin of this singularity is unknown. As for matter appearing out of nowhere, This actually happens more often than one would expect. A classic example is Hawkings Radiation. Throughout space, Subatomic particles of matter and antimatter randomly and constantly pop into existence. Normally, These particles would undergo annihilation with one another, Leading to zero net matter/antimatter change in the universe. When one of this pair of particles appears inside the event horizon of a black hole, However, It is inevitably destroyed. Assuming that its partner appeared outside the event horizon and escapes its gravitational hold, A net change of matter has occurred in the universe. I have previously talked about "gaps" in scientific knowledge. Throughout history, Religion has had a tendency to fill in these gaps, Then retreat as science claims them as now-charted territory. For example, The Greek (Roman) Zeus (Jupiter) was created to explain a then-inexplicable phenomenon: storms. This god, And the concept of a "storm" god was discarded swiftly as soon as science was able to explain storms. Today, The world's religions generally cover two major gaps in scientific knowledge: our origin and our destiny. Perhaps one day humanity will be able to answer these questions, And finally lay to rest the thousands of fabricated gods. Perhaps not. In any case, It is important to see that every single god in history has ultimately and inevitably been disproven and discarded. Is it not arrogant and irrational then, To cling fiercely to the belief that your god is the one true god? Unfortunately, Religion is an empire built on powerful biases and heuristics. The sunken cost bias, Or the inability to abandon a cause that one has spent a large amount of resources on, Inhibits theists from the ability to view their religion logically and see the illogicality behind it. Confirmation bias is also constantly present. When a prayer doesn't work, It is dismissed as "god is busy" or "god works in mysterious ways. " When it does work, However, Religious believers are quick to jump to the conclusion that the result is an effect of the prayer and not a coincidence. A final bias that I would like to discuss is the echo chamber. When surrounded by others sharing the same belief, One's beliefs are often echoed back at oneself, Strengthening them and rendering them nigh impervious to outside attempts to change them. Although it is very difficult to do so, I would like you to consider these biases and think about what effect they may have had on your views. Finally, The creation stories. They are undoubtedly good stories, Having convinced billions of people across the globe. Yet, Ultimately they are only that: stories. Created by humans, For whatever intent. These stories are not scientifically factual and are not a reliable source of information. Many of the "facts" stated in these stories, And in holy texts, Are in conflict with our more reliable, Scientific, Understanding of the world. On the first day, Man created god.