Christianity is a healthier lifestyle than atheism

P1) Atheism has no morally good doctrines P2) Atheism does not encourage morally good acts Since atheism is not a religion, it doesn't have any doctrines and doesn't encourage anything. This doesn't mean atheists can't act in a morally good way. Atheism is simply about lack of belief. The fact that a person doesn't have faith in a supernatural entity doesn't make that person immoral. Being an atheism means rejecting God, not rejecting morality. Just like Christians, Atheists are raised and live in a society that cares a lot about morality and condemns immoral behavior. Society has a huge impact of individuals. As long as the society you live in pressures you to act in a morally good way, you will. The fact that the Bible also encourages this kind of behavior has little impact. Most immoral actions are also punished by law, so you can't say that Atheists are free to be immoral or have no reason to act in a morally goon way. If Atheism was less healthy that Christianity, then most atheists would be in prison. Statistics show that the number of atheists in prison is very small[1]. Atheists don't believe there is a God that imposes morality, but this doesn't have a real impact on their behavior, not as long as society condemns immoral actions. (1) Mental well-being Mental well-being can be achieved in a various ways that don't require belief in God. An atheist is just as likely to achieve mental well-being as a Christian, because religion doesn't play any role in achieving mental well-being.[2] (2) Abstention from harmful activities Atheists are aware of the negative effects of drugs and alcohol and they are likely to choose not to abuse them. This is another type of behavior that society discourages and condemns. As long as atheists are part of this society, they are just as likely to abuse alcohol and drugs as any Christian. Furthermore, the famous AA 12 steps are directly targeted as Christians, as the 12 steps include: "Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him." "Admitted to God, to ourselves and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs." "Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings."[3] It is obvious that most AA members are Christians. (3) Prayer as a placebo It is true prayer has a beneficial placebo effect. However, prayer can also be harmful. Christians believe God watches over them, helps them overcome certain situation and generally help them everyday. The Church and the Bible teach Christians that if they pray and don't sin, God will help them. This kind of blind faith can determine Christians to pray and wait for divine help instead of fighting in order to help themselves. Prayer has positive as well as negative effects and therefore cannot be used as evidence that Christianity is healthy. "He incorrectly assumes that forgiveness excludes justice" My opponent defined Christians as " somebody who accepts the teachings of the New and Old Testament to be divinely inspired." The Bible clearly encourages to forgive instead of judging. Christians should only believe in divine justice, not in earthly justice. "Judge not, and you will not be judged; condemn not, and you will not be condemned; forgive, and you will be forgiven" (Luke, 6:37) "There is only one lawgiver and judge, he who is able to save and to destroy. But who are you to judge your neighbor?" (James, 4:12) Obviously, Christians don't practice this particular teaching, but they should. My opponent referred to "active" Christians throughout his arguments, defining them as Christians who actively practice the teachings of the Bible. Only active Christianity can be considered healthy, since only active Christians will help those in need as much as they can( as my opponent showed in the 2nd round). These active Christians would surely also practice the Bible's teachings regarding forgiveness. This means that a Christian who always helps people would also never turn in a murderer. Therefore, active Christianity if more harmful than healthy. "decreasing the risk of harm would be considered beneficial" The only way Christianity decreases the risk of harm is by not allowing alcohol and drug abuse. I proved that most alcoholics are Christians, so Christianity has no natural benefits. Going back to the very important "turn the other cheek" doctrine, Christianity can actually be harmful for people, making it unnatural. " there is accumulating evidence for theistic tendencies at birth" This proves nothing. Theism doesn't mean Christianity. Even if it could be proven that babies are born theists, they could very well believe in Brahma. "we should be expecting to find the same widespread misogyny, homophobia and racism as was observed in the past. " Society did change over the years. It is unreasonable to expect Christians to burn homosexuals at the stake in the 21st century. This doesn't change the fact that Christianity still considers homosexuality to be immoral, they still consider masturbation and pre-marital sex immoral. The Christian practices have changed, there is nothing to debate here, but certain aspects of morality remained unchanged for 2000 years. Atheists are more opened to moral progression because they don't have any doctrines they must respect. "Sadly, we find little to praise amongst the atheists of society." Most scientists are atheists. Technology is advancing faster and faster thanks to non-religious scientists. Atheism has a huge impact on how we thinks. Even if they don't convince Christians there is no God, Atheism is responsible for theories like Old Earth Creationism or Intelligent Design which are far more reasonable than Young Earth Creationism. If Atheism never threatened the credibility of Christianity, Christianity would've never accepted those theories. Conclusion: I want to mention that throughout this debate my opponent ignored the fact that not all Christians are saints. Just because Christianity has healthy doctrines it doesn't mean that all Christians will never use drugs, be violent, ignore a person in need or be immoral. Even active Christians that believe in all the morally good doctrines of Christianity will sin. Christianity is not nearly as healthy as my opponent described it, because all of those doctrines will be ignored by Christians at some point. Atheism is in most cases just as healthy as Christianity, since religious beliefs don't have a considerable impact on well-being or initiatives. Also, atheism is more natural than Christianity. I also showed that destructive behavior such as alcohol abuse in more common among Christians than atheists. Moral progression is also encouraged by atheism. In conclusion, atheism is healthier and more forward than Christianity. [1]http://www.patheos.com... [2]http://www.nhs.uk... [3]http://www.alcoholics-anonymous.org.uk...