Religion has interfered with the advancement of the world more than it has helped it.

Thank you for that delightfully canned argument, which does not address ANY of my points. The resolution still stands in this case, on the back of the arguments that I have posted. I would like to quickly state that this one argument that he has stated only applies to one religion AND chokes on other religions, such as Judaism and Hinduism, to the point where non-adherents to Christianity are commonly chasitized for their lack of piety, simply because they are not Christian. Consider Westboro Baptist Church, a church which uses social media to spread their message. This church, known for their aggressive campaigns against any "non-christian" beliefs (evidenced by their website's host domain, "gaysarefags.com"), routinely condemn non-christian acts. Their actions routinely use their doctrine as reason and justification for actions such as desecrating a funeral on the basis of something completely unrelated [1] and launching attacks on the victims of the Holocaust on the grounds that "Jews are the real nazis" [2]. Not only does Religion ruin society by allowing hate speech to run rampant in the streets of America, it allows for Religion to be self-destructive, even when Jews and Christians essentially worship the same God. My opposition would have you believe that RELIGION is the primary cause of happiness in the United States of America. After all, his canned argument from a website clearly shows that 81% of adherents to a Church-based religion have a positive impact on their lives because of religion. HOWEVER, I propose that FAITH and NOT religion is the primary factor for this admittedly high number of satisfied customers (ignoring the inability of the satisfied customer to consider what he or she is actually satisfied about). After all, Religion is simply a set of doctrines and facts based on a central figure. FAITH is what causes this religion to be effective for these people, and it really only applies to those who are faithful to it. The opposition does not see that faith and religion are separate, for one can have faith in the Government, which is NOT a religion. In addition, I would like to see the ample evidence of the bullet note points that my opponent seems to claim are fact. To introduce a new argument, religion has routinely stymied the efforts of scientists to improve worldwide health (as an EXAMPLE, many other advances were routinely stopped by religious fanatics because it would not support their argument that religion is king) in a bid to continue feeling good about the religious advantage of moral superiority. As an example, stem cell research debuted in the 1880s, and was successfully used to repair skin, bones, and other body parts otherwise irreparable AND irreplacable. More research was done and it was found that fetuses contained cells that could repair ANY body part, even those that adult stem cells could not repair. However, the idea that "life starts from conception" has roadblocked the path to being able to repair nerves for paraplegics and perform complex surgeries. While the pro-choice and pro-life argument is another debate in itself, it cannot be ignored that stem cells are an advance in society, by advancing the ability of hospitals to do their jobs. The resolution is affirmed: Religion has interfered with the advancement of the world more than it has helped it. [1]http://www.cnn.com... [2]http://www.adl.org...