Without religion, there would be less war.

I accept the challenge. I also accept my opponents point 3 for his argument and "war has existed before the creation of religion" from point 1 of his argument as basic fact. Definitions from dictionary. com: War: noun 1. a conflict carried on by force of arms, as between nations or between parties within a nation; warfare, as by land, sea, or air. Religion a specific fundamental set of beliefs and practices generally agreed upon by a number of persons or sects: the Christian religion; the Buddhist religion. less: 1. to a smaller extent, amount, or degree: less exact. average Joe/Joes: "noun an ordinary person or citizen; an average man. human nature: "noun 1. the psychological and social qualities that characterize humankind, especially in contrast with other living things. legalism: 3. ( initial capital letter ) (in Chinese philosophy) the principles and practices of a school of political theorists advocating strict legal control over all activities, a system of rewards and punishments uniform for all classes, and an absolute monarchy. Opening argument Religion. It's all around us and has been seen by the average Joe almost around every corner where he or she lives. Religion in many aspects is one of the earliest sign of humans trying to understand the world around them. Religion as defined by dictionary.com states,"A specific fundamental set of beliefs and practices generally agreed upon by a number of persons or sects: the Christian religion; the Buddhist religion." As the result of this bewilderment of wondering why we are here, major religions such as Buddhism, Hinduism, Taoism, Paganism, and much more came into being as a result. This created a explosion in cultures in every aspect of the average Joes life. All of this bewilderment also in a bad way created tensions between certain religious groups trying to explain aspects of human nature. This leads me to my 1'st point. Point 1: Religious tensions have and still does existed in human civilizations. Depending on where or what civilizations you look to in history, In some ways direct or indirect, wars were caused by the tensions. I'm going to use china as an example. One of the 1'st Chinese imperial emperors know as Qin Shi enacted a philosophic reasoning in his empire known as Legalism. Legalism as defined "( initial capital letter ) (in Chinese philosophy) the principles and practices of a school of political theorists advocating strict legal control over all activities, a system of rewards and punishments uniform for all classes, and an absolute monarchy." Qin During the time he ruled saw any other philosophic ideas as a threat to his empire. This lead to the burning of books in china and the burying of scholars at the Hundred Schools of Thought(http://history.cultural-china.com...). Ever since the majority of Qin citizens were followers of Confucianism, this made the population Very mad as it already was and off and lead to the popular uprising led by Liu Bang in 209 b.c and eventually lead to the end of the Qin dynasty. If you want more of a modern example of religious tensions, look at the chaotic country of Sudan. In north Sudan, the majority of the population was Muslim verses the south which the majority was Christian. This cultural difference was one of the driving forces in the civil wars in Sudan and the succession of south Sudan. (http://www.meforum.org...) Point 2: Religious tensions cause a major chunk of the wars along with the scramble of resources. If we look to every major known war or conquests in recorded human history, you can see that either it started because of a scramble to resources or religious reasons. I'm going to make separate sections of major wars that were caused by either one Resources: Alexander the great conquest: He wanted to build an empire and the obvious start was to capture important resources. WWII in Europe: Hitler wanted to make his government even more powerful, but he needed to invade other countries for resources in order to make a stronger "purer" nation. WWII in the pacific: The U.S cut off about a majority of japans assets in the u.s. This made japan mad at the U.S and the military government decided to hit the U.S hard at pearl harbor(http://germanyinworldwar2.com...). Mongolian conquest: Genghis Khan wanted to gain power, but he needed the man power in order to start expanding his area. He made loose forums of alliances and raided villages all around different government owned areas in order to fuel his empire growth. Religious: Rise of the Abbasid Calphate Ever since the Abbasid consider themselves the true successors to Muhammad as opposed to the Umayyads, The Abbasid usually questioned weather or no the Umayyads were following under the footsteps of the prophet Muhammud. This eventually led to war between the Abbasid and the Umayyads and with the Abbasids come out as the sucessors. The Crusades: The crusades we're defiantly religious because Pope Urban the II started the trend and i quote from one of his letters, "I, or rather the Lord, beseech you as Christ's heralds to publish this everywhere and to perse all people of whatever rank, foot-soldiers and knights, poor and rich, to carry aid promptly to those Christians and to destroy that vile race from the lands of our friends. I say this to those who are present, it meant also for those who are absent. Moreover, Christ commands it." (http://www.fordham.edu...) conclusion: Based upon points one and two, the points heavy suggest that a major chunk of the known wars were caused by religious tensions. Without the presence of religion, war would rage less on the planet earth.