secular based morals are superior to religious faith based morals

Con will try to address some of Pro's comments. Pro: “You claim that you are religious and yet believe in a god that is indifferent to the universe. This contradicts the very basis of religious faith.”With all due respect, please do not try to redefine my faith and religion. Again my “faith” is, God created the universe via the Big Bang. My “religion” is, the ritual of the scientific method to read the handwriting of God---the Laws of Nature. Pro: “I get lost when you use the science of biology to explain Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.”Empirically (the science), once inanimate matter becomes alive, “Life,” must have the freedom (“Liberty” in the optimization relative to resistance), in “the pursuit (energy flow) of ” survival; otherwise, there is no life. Survival is a form of positive-feedback and a prerequisite for human “Happiness.” This generalized mechanism of survival is simply a bio-program, an interface between life and nature during evolution, and empirically observed in all life, from a single cell to humans. Hence, Thomas Jefferson's discovery, which he declared “self-evident” and used the labeled “Unalienable Rights” representing a polished version of this bio-program, relative to humanity, in his following celebrated statement, “Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.” As for evolution, many understand the logic and give global recognition to Herbert Spencer for his paradigm of “survival of the fittest,” where the esteem Charles Darwin incorporated this paradigm in his research. Life's Unalienable Rights presents a higher resolution of Spencer's paradigm and is the foundation to “survival of the fittest.” Unbeknownst to Charles and Herbert, their observations were the embodiment of life's Unalienable Rights, which Jefferson discovered eighty some years earlier. Here are some empirical evolutionary examples of life's bio-program interaction with nature (the science). 1) Relative to evolution, life operating within the matrix of the Laws of Nature and navigating throughout nature in general, species (Life) depends on Liberty to avoid resistance, and expend energy in the pursuit of positive-feedback. The result is adaptation and evolution. Species who lack the Liberty to avoid resistance and/or the energy to pursue positive-feedback, follow a path towards extinction. 2) Adolph Hitler exercised his Rights to Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of his Happiness---his perception of a totalitarian utopia, by obstructing the Unalienable Rights of others. This obstruction went against the Laws of Nature, causing distress, death, and a global nightmare. Nature fought back, for humans are part of nature. Hitler, who had an ideology that opposed nature, became history upon his demise, well before his natural time.3) Before the invention of the airplane, man historically exercised his Right of freedom in the pursuit of attempting to fly like a bird by attaching wings to his limbs, resulting in endless negative-feedback in death or failure. Over the ages man was only able to achieve his flight objectives when he morally complied with nature's Laws of Aerodynamics through positive-feedback, then humanity safely took to the sky. 4) Cancer cells attempt to exercise their Right to Life and Liberty by surviving and multiplying, which destroys humans' Right to Life. Man (Life) exercises his Right of Liberty by pursuing medical research and treatments that kill cancer cells and prolong the lives of cancer patients (Happiness).5) The Laws of Nature bestow the Right to Life---which includes Liberty in the pursuit of survival, positive-feedback and growth from conception, to birth, to cradle, to grave. However, man-made laws allow people to pursue death of others through totalitarianism, abortion, euthanasia, war, etc., going against life's Unalienable Rights, the Laws of Nature, hence, death, tyranny or the pursuit of failure.Pro: “You claim that an atheistic view is a cultural view, it is an individual's view.”Con did not make such a “claim.” Again, empirically not one culture in recorded history was found to be atheistic. In other words, all cultures are religious based. Therefore, atheism is simply an individual's view. Pro: “Because we possess free will, we choose our values; ... (e.g., to pursue a wonderful career, to remain with a worthy spouse, to establish and maintain a civilized society)"or ... (e.g., to shoot heroin, to stay with an abusive spouse, or to advocate communism or sharia).” Very true! Whatever values one morally follows defines the social group. Whether that group is “heroin addicts” or a “civilized society.” Values are relative, for all cultures are not the same. Morality is simply both the genesis and compliance of social values. Pro: “It is an observable fact that life is a process of self-sustaining and self-generated action. This is a metaphysically given fact;...”“Metaphysics” in summary (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy http://plato.stanford.edu...), about the seventeenth century “metaphysics” began to be a catch-all category, a repository of philosophical problems that could not be otherwise classified: “not epistemology, not logic, not ethics, etc.” It would seem “metaphysics” is some state of philosophy until the scientific method presents the incarnation of clarity. I prefer science over metaphysical statements. Pro: “The idea that rights come from God or from a law of nature created by God fails to meet the requirement of demonstrability.” Unalienable Rights is the term Jefferson used. To honor his discovery, it is proper to address life's bio-program as Unalienable Rights of which “survival of the fittest” is dependent on, and has a traceable path to the Constructal Law, a part of the Laws of Nature. As for the “requirement of demonstrability,” in addition to the above 5 examples, let's start with an axiom. An axiom is a premise so “self-evident” (the term Jefferson used) as to be accepted as true without controversy. From a logical point of view, the event of survival or death, or success or failure in the pursuit of positive- or negative-feedback, when interfacing with nature, presents a self-contained system of binary outcomes. In the field of mathematics and logic, such a closed system of propositions brings into existence a proof. From a binary standpoint, notably, it would be impossible to take away any one of the Rights while leaving the other two intact, as all of the Rights are dependent on one another---Unalienable. Without Life, one cannot enjoy Liberty or pursue Happiness. Without Liberty, one lacks the freedom to take the path in the pursuit of survival, and therefore, unable to continue Life. Without the pursuit (energy flow) of events leading to survival (positive-feedback, Happiness) one cannot continue Life or enjoy Liberty. Because of their interdependency and tendency to wane simultaneously with various degrees of obstruction, the three Rights define a spectrum of positions. The binary positive end of the spectrum is a position of Life, Liberty, and Happiness (positive feedback), while the negative end is a position of death, tyranny, and distress (negative feedback).From the above scientific traceable path to the Constructal Law, the 5 examples and the discussion of said bio-program being the foundation to “survival of the fittest,” complemented with a closed system of binary propositions bringing into existence a proof; hence, the Scientific Proof of life's Unalienable Rights. Pro: “Reason is our means of understanding the world, ourselves, and our needs,...”The scientific method is the means of understanding the world. As for “reason,” there are those who reason, with all due respect, where metaphysics is “given fact.” Con is waiting for the Burden of Proof (BoF) from Pro. BoF is the implied responsibility of “The Instigator” in a debate.