Atheism vs. Christianity (Pro - Atheist, Con - Christian)

Here we continue into the third round for this debate. The topic, which apparently draws confused attention to it, is slightly different than the traditional conflict which is Atheism vs. Theism. The reason of my choosing this topic has two points. The first being that my concentration of knowledge concerns Christianity. It would make sense to fight with my stronger arm. The second reason is this debate is a test for myself. I'm currently debating a Christian, therefore, this debate makes sense. Now continuing with my arguments. Introduction In my last round I gave the strongest, in my opinion, argument for an atheist: the absurdity of religion, in this case Christianity. For this round I will post some of the more common arguments given by atheists today. Argument 1 Look at the suffering. Look at the prayers This world is a wonderful midst of brilliant colors and sights. From the tiniest detail, our world flows with excitement and discovery. But terror rips through this place of delight too. Wherever we look, the bad very often outweighs the good. Hundreds of innocent children fall to horrible deaths each day. Wildlife is going extinct, terrorism and torture are rampant everywhere. Articles like these are all over the place. "About 21,000 people die every day of hunger or hunger-related causes, according to the United Nations. This is one person every four seconds, as you can see on this display. Sadly, it is children who die most often." [1] "The violence in Iraq has killed more than 5,500 civilians over the first six months of the year, according to a report by the United Nations that documents the massive humanitarian toll of the Sunni militant offensive."[2] All this is going on, but no answer from God. He's just sitting back in His infinitely luxurious throne while little precious jenny gets her head hacked off along with her family, ignoring their pleas and prayers. Incidents similar to this happen everyday. God just waits in heaven, never answering suffering people's prayers. However, in America and other wealthy countries, the story is quite different. Jenny is 32 years old living in the upper middle class. She and her family have a problem. They need a large amount of gravel to complete their little patio. They pray to God to help them find a great discount on gravel. Suddenly, the next week they receive a truck load of gravel from a family member who just happened to buy too much. They add this to their list of answered prayers and share with their church the amazing power of prayer. Look at this situation. God gladly will help Jenny find cheep gavel or Joel Osteen search for the perfect parking spot. When people in Africa pray for their lives, God strangely never hears them. Their is no possible way for their to exist a loving or even just God that answers prayers who answers rich people's trifles and not the miserable people's problems in Africa, even for the ones who fall under submission to Him. With an atheist's perspective, this scene would make sense. Nothing is fair in life. Some live and some don't. Argument 2 Look at all the religions Have you ever contemplated all the religions that exist in the world today. Consider this article, "According to David Barrett et al, editors of the "World Christian Encyclopedia: A comparative survey of churches and religions - AD 30 to 2200," there are 19 major world religions which are subdivided into a total of 270 large religious groups, and many smaller ones. 34,000 separate Christian groups have been identified in the world. 'Over half of them are independent churches that are not interested in linking with the big denominations.'" [3] There are many religions in the world today. The total increases even more the farther back in history we go. Now what does this info actually mean? People have been trying to find some form of explanation for their existence. However, no one is quite sure who or where he/she is. If there was a god, we'd expect a definite being who proclaims his existence instead of letting the people take a wild guess. This brings me to my next point. Argument 3 Look at the timeline of religion The timeline of religions goes into direct proof of the non existence of a God. Thousands of years ago people believe in gods of fertility, life, food, etc... They created them to explain processes that they saw. They wanted a god who could fill their ignorance. As time progressed and discoveries were made, some of these gods disappeared and natural explanations took their place. As I have shown before, true atheism began during the time of the enlightenment [4]. Once people can explain their existence without God, he too begins to slip away. What we are in now is the time when the idea of a God is beginning to fade. Christians today begin to realize this too. In America pastors all over are beginning to accept evolution as a reason for our existence. Evolution is also confirmed by my opponent. I will be addressing this in the next round. Argument 4 Try to look for God Speaking of god's lack of response to prayer and the beginning of our knowledge of natural explanations to our existence, it brings to mind another topic. Why is god so hidden, especially today? Back in bible times, god always showed himself. Verses such as Exodus 7:14-11:10 [5], Exodus 16 [6], and pretty much all the life time of Jesus, god shows himself. He had no trouble demonstrating his power and authority over them. Miracles and wonders were a common sight then. Today this is not so. As I have stated before there are many religions that try to find him. If anything, god is working against himself. If there was a god, he not only hid himself, but also set up our world so it can easily be explained without him. If there was a god, this would be the most idiotic being in existence. But he isn't an idiot, he's an imaginary friend that ignorant people made up. Rebuttal As wonderful as these arguments posted by my opponent, there is a slight issue. All of the arguments presented against me were completely unsourced. They were all based on mental gathering and interpretation. Though my opponent may be quite intelligent, they still contain no weight to them. Nevertheless I will counter them. In my opponent's rebuttal, I would be very appreciative if he would site his arguments. Argument 1 Moral recognition in the world (changes!) Morality doesn't need a supernatural creator for its existence. We, as the human species, created it as time goes on. Consider the following article, "Morality comes from us - we make it. It starts with a few biological sources, such as the basic survival instinct, and behaviors of social species. After that, human philosophy, and assessment of harm versus benefit, establish the remaining nuances of morality. Atheists use this "Secular" morality explicitly, which is basically a derived set of behaviors that allow multiple humans to cooperate in a society. The goals are to maximize benefit and happiness while minimizing harm and misery (which biology primes us to desire). Actions taken can be evaluated towards this goal as moral and immoral, respectively. How do we know not to kill people? Societies break down fairly fast if people run around slaughtering each other. It does not take long to figure out that this is a behavior that gets in the way of society - thus, it is determined to be 'bad'. It is reality based, not supernatural." [7] We, as the only known species to have consciousness, are able to develop and change morality. This is exactly what we do see [8]. Morality is not proof of God. Argument 2 Religious knowledge (ignorance) As I have demonstrated in argument 3, religion isn't proof of God. It is proof of total ignorance. Religion dies as our knowledge grows. Conclusion These are my arguments and hopefully all of the arguments posted by my opponent. The questions you answered will be brought up in the next round with interesting connections. I hope my opponent realizes that this debate will continue debating the topic of Atheism vs. Christianity. I now await my opponent's response. Sources [1] http://www.poverty.com... [2] http://www.theguardian.com... [3] http://www.religioustolerance.org... [4] http://www.conservapedia.com... [5] https://www.biblegateway.com... [6] https://www.biblegateway.com... [7] http://atheist-faq.com... [8] http://www.yale.edu...