Anti-Theism is flawed.

Thanks for accepting, this should be an interesting argument with a atheist arguing for thevalue of religion, and a theist arguing for anti-theism.Benefits of Religion:1) Religion helps people get through day to day life. (Faith gives people hope.)2) Religion can encourage people to do good. (A sense of morality.)3) Religion can bring people together. (Religion and social behavior.)Faith gives people hope: Whenever people have religion, they usually find some joy in it. This makes people happier, and less afraid of the world around them. (The afterlife is a general aspect of religion and it makes dying seem more acceptable.) People with this faith are also happier in day to day life. Faith brings them peace as they assume their god is watching out for them.[1]A sense of morality: With religion, people do better things. Many religions have a variant of the golden rule that promotes empathy and kindness towards your fellow man.[2] This encourages people to do good. Religion also keeps people from doing wrong.Some people believe in the Divine command theory. [3] That states that good and evil is determined by a god. If you've seen the movie 'Gods Not Dead,' the protagonist quotes Dostoevsky by saying "Without God everything is permissible." This is obviously untrue for many reasons (Euthyphro dilemma comes to mind [4]) but the fact that some people believe it is true, proves that Religion has an effect on people's behavior. Without God, these people wouldn't see a reason to act morally. If these people believed there was no God, they would act immorally. (Morals being their beliefs of right and wrong.)Religion and social behavior: Churches, mosque and synagogues are all places people meet to discuss religion. This social behavior improves their happiness and creates bonds between people. This will make the people happier [5] and some churches or religious organizations try to help the community or the world. [6]Flaws in Anti-Theism1) They mistake the errors of mankind as that of religion.2) They misinterpret the correlation of science and atheism.3) Assumption of superiority.The Errors of Man: Many Anti-Theist will bring up the Crusades or Salem Witch Trials as proof of the flaws of religion. Cultures dislike other cultures, and the Crusades were fighting to reclaim Jerusalem.[7] Yes, religion was their excuse, but chances are the major reason was the fact they disliked another culture and felt they had claim to that land. The Salem Witch Trials were created by superstition and fear. Yes, religion was a major point at this point [8], but they seen their children as possessed and wanted to look for someone to blame. Greed, fear and blame are major parts of human nature as a general rule, major factors in most of the 'atrocities' committed by religion are not caused by religion, but more likely to claim religion as a reason to make their causes seem righteous.Faith is not Stupidity: Another fun topic some Anti-Theist enjoy bringing up is that faith is just superstition that is created by early man. They believe they are atheist because they see past their ancestor's flaws, rather than sticking to what most believed as a child. This is not the case. How Richard Feynman describes it, [9] many scientist are atheist not because their overwhelming intelligence, but that doubt is a key component in their career. To doubt what you believe is a major virtue in this field, and most scientist share it (Even those who are theist) and they eventually begin to question their religion. This period of questioning can create a disbelief in a god, and many decide to get out of their religion because of this. (Quite a few decide that religion is worth it.) The ideas of science and religion are not opposing, but their major virtues do oppose each other (Doubt and Faith) making it difficult (Not impossible) to have religion with doubt, or follow science while maintaining faith.Assumption of Superiority: The possible greatest flaw of Anti-Theism is they assume their religion (Atheism) is greater than any other. Each religion has it radicals (Christian 'Bible-Thumpers', Muslim 'Terrorist' and most importantly, Atheism's Anti-Theist) and each prefer look to other radicals to support that their religion is better than the other's. In fact, of each religion a great many are willing to accept people of other religions into their lives. (I can speak from personal experience as an atheist with Christian friends, but I know that won't suffice as evidence.)Many countries have religious diversity [10] and in these countries, there are constant debates (such as this one) that argue about religions, but in the end it encourages diversity and for many it encourages the acceptance of other cultures and their beliefs.(The share of knowledge and literature that could prove beneficial for all people, and with exposure to different ideas it encourages tolerance of different ideas, if an atheist reads the bible and gains knowledge about a Christian's beliefs, he will most likely feel more understanding with them.)Also, I will define radicals as those who believe their religion is superior and that other religions are wrong and should be disbanded.1. http://www.huffingtonpost.com...2. http://www.teachingvalues.com...3. http://en.wikipedia.org...4. http://en.wikipedia.org...5. http://www.livescience.com...6. http://www.salvationarmyusa.org...7. http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk...8. http://school.discoveryeducation.com...9. http://calteches.library.caltech.edu...10. http://www.pewforum.org...