Religion is Harmful to Modern Society (Late 20th Century to Present)

1) You are creating a Slippery Slope Fallacy "In logic and critical thinking, a slippery slope is a logical device, but is usually known under its fallacious form in which a person asserts that some event must inevitably follow from another without any rational argument or demonstrable mechanism for the inevitability of the event in question." Also, before claiming it is irrational thinking, you should understand what irrational thinking is "Irrationality is cognition, thinking, talking or acting without inclusion of rationality. It is more specifically described as an action or opinion given through inadequate use of reason, emotional distress, or cognitive deficiency. The term is used, usually pejoratively, to describe thinking and actions that are, or appear to be, less useful, or more illogical than other more rational alternatives. [1][2]" Under that definition, it is rational thinking. Almost every religion depends on a spiritual identity for the creation of existence. The rational part of that thinking is that "Something did not come form nothing". It is indeed rational thinking to think there is more to existence than meets the eye. As I have shown, you have yet to prove it is irrational thinking. Believing in God is a rational thought when you go through the logical process of thinking that it is very unlikely that existence could be so perfectly well tuned without it being planned or designed. Therefore, it is rational thought, according to the definition of irrational thought. Resources: http://en.wikipedia.org... http://en.wikipedia.org... 2) What about Heliocentrism? It is a scientific theory, but it is false. Should it be taught in school as well? No. Therefore, you have not proven your point. Resources: http://en.wikipedia.org... 3) Thats an interesting point you make. However, our condom argument wasn't focused mainly on teenagers. I digress, I still disagree with you. If you read the article, it talks about the teenagers basically not listening. The only reason the states with contraceptives had less pregnancies is because they heard about the condoms. They weren't practicing abstinence at all. So does this mean it is impossible? Of course not. Lets use logic here. One thousand years ago, would there of been a likely chance for teenagers to be practicing homosexuality? No way, the environment did not permit it. It was extremely frowned upon. The same goes for pregnancy and sex as teenagers. The current environment and social situation we live in permits these things. It isn't seen as a "rare" scenario. If anything, because of contraceptives, people are more inclined to have sex as teenagers. My main point is that it is all about the social environment they live in. For example, bikinis. Women used to cover up a ton when they went to the beach, no women would be seen in a bikini a hundred or so years ago. However, it is different now isn't it? That is because our social environment has accepted it. That is my main point. Religion stopping condom use is not causing massive teen pregnancies, it is the social acceptance of teen sex that is causing it. 4) Because it is immoral. Regardless, you have not proven every atheist is for stem-cell research. 5) Did you ignore the definition of science? I just showed you how religion uses science. Because religions do not teach the theories you believe in, does not make them deny science. Do religions deny that H2O is water? No. That is science fact. Just because they don't believe your theories, does not mean they deny science. On a side note, not every non-religious person believes in those theories either. There are people who believe in God, who are agnostic, who do not believe in the Big Bang theory, or Evolution. You don't get it. Almost anything has a harmful component to society. Therefore, for something to be truly harmful to society, the benefits cannot outweigh the damage. Religion causes many good things in society, I have stated a few examples but to add: Humbleness, Kindness, Sharing, Loving, Helping, Empathy, not being vain, not being selfish, not being jealous, not swearing, Obedience to parents, etc, There are many positive messages taught in religion, and I just posted things of the top of my head from Christianity. So let me give you some things that are harmful to society, and it is why prisons exist : Murders [which Christianity is against], Pedophiles [which Christianity is against], Stealing [which Christianity is against], Extortionists [which Christianity is against], etc. To conclude, I have refuted every argument you have posted. The only argument, that I can understand someone disagreeing with me on, is the teen pregnancy argument. I appreciate you participating in this debate with me, and I hope your opinion has changed. To everyone else, there is no voting, so just vote in the comment section to say who you think won this debate. May GOD bless you all.