Religion is overall beneficial on the human race.

We were actually on Yahoo! Chat about this topic when we decided to debate this topic. Good luck to you, and may the best debater win. I'd like to start my round by addressing Con's points. My opponent has stated that the idea of a God all-mighty and all-good is illogical, and brought in that crime still happens in the world. However, there is reasoning behind this. John 3:16 states, "For God so loved the world be gave his only begotten Son, that all who believe in Him shall not perish, but have everlasting life. " The reasoning behind this passage as well as all other teachings of God is that those who really do believe in Him would follow the teachings and try their best not to commit sin. Those who truly believe follow His teachings in the Holy Bible, which include lying, murder, and crime as sins. Rocky may argue that there are in fact more religious criminals in the U. S. than atheist, but at the same time, a conducted Princeton Survey states that only about 15% of U. S. adults are atheist. That leaves a whopping 85% of adults in the United States as ones who practice a religion, 76% of which are Christian. Rocky also stated that it obstructs science and that all of these discoveries that were made go against the teachings of the Church. Nowhere in the Bible does it say that the Earth absolutely must be in the center of the universe. In no teachings does it say that God didn't also create the other planets. In fact, there are religious people who believe in God, but they say that He created the Big Bang. In this case, they do believe that He still created the world, but at the same time, they can also believe in evolution in that God just decided that their race was suffering and did not allow them to reproduce. Please address this point for clarification if it does not make any sense to you. I would also like to bring to mind that this debate is about religion being overall good (or not) for the human race, not whether or not you should believe that any type of God exists. Urban dictionary is an unreliable source, as well as a site full of offensive language and definitions against certain races, ethnicities, or religions which others randomly throw into the website. This source, and everything quoted from this source, should be heavily disregarded. Give me ONE LEGIT SOURCE that states that Muslims bomb themselves in hopes of going to paradise, and then we can argue that point. Also, give me a legit reason why giving thanks is a bad thing, or a waste of time. Spending a little time every day to appreciate what you have is a bad habit? If you believe that giving thanks will take you to Heaven, it's bad to want that? I only have one refutation to clear up all of the examples Rockylightning has listed: we are NOT debating whether or not God exists! We are debating whether or not religion is overall beneficial for the human race or not. Obviously, since you were the one who set up the debate, you more than anyone else should be the one following your own motion. Please follow up your next set of points with relevant information to this debate. Now, I would like to move onto some of my own points. 1) Religion enriches society. Religion is a way to differentiate different cultural groups. Without religions, the world would have less diversity and less ways to accept people as who they are. For some people, religion is what pushes them forward to invent new things or even just have a meaning or a motivation to make the best out of life. "Religion helps to regulate our conduct and behavior in society by providing a set of morals and value-system for human existence. True religion protects the human rights of everyone and prevents their violation, ensures social justice, equality and security for all its adherents, ensures a happy, holy, healthy mind in a healthy body, provides for good governance of society and good care of its citizen, and guides our actions in life, putting a check on criminal tendency in human nature. As a science of self-improvement, religion offers a therapeutic and success-oriented lifestyle,a victorious way of life. " My source for this is pure reason as well as listed here: . http://www.sikhphilosophy.net... Also keep in mind that this source is a reliable network, unlike Urban Dictionary. 2) Religion enriches individual lives. In ancient Asia during war and drought, for example, many people turned to Buddhism for peace and comfort. The medieval Renaissance was from the rebirth of Greek and Roman literature, which included their polytheistic religious aspects. Many forms of art included the Virgin Mary, Jesus, and the Greek and Roman gods and goddesses such as Aphrodite and Zeus. It was religion which motivated Michelangelo to paint Adam and God on the roof of the Sistine Chapel, and it was religion that built all the great churches and cathedrals we still see today. Religion is what caused many people to leave Britain to come to the Americas, thus creating our country today. Here is a picture of the Sistine Chapel ceiling, influenced by religion. . http://sciencedude.freedomblogging.com... This painting during the Renaissance is a perfect example of how one artist's life was enriched by religious influence. I shall expand on my points further and bring in some new ones in the second round. For now, I am turning this debate over to Rockylightning.