Religious vs Not Religious

Hello again everyone. Thank you for accepting this debate devient.genie, though I did say that the first round was for acceptance and not argument. I hope this rule breaking will be taken into account by the audience when the voting comes. I also stated for there to be no profanity use and general rudeness. I think your three strikes are up, but since we haven't barely started, I guess I'll let it pass, seeing as you are a pretty rude individual. I also told you to write like a normal person, so it would be easier on everyone to see where you are getting at, and some of your sentences still make no sense. Seeing as you failed to live up to these standards, I do hope that is also taken into account in voting. Now, let's begin. For starters, you claim to want to expose me as an intellectual fraud yet you don't care if you win or lose. Logically speaking, does't exposing me as a fraud mean that other people have to see me as a fraud to, there fore vote for you? For an apparently intelligent person, your logic is quite questionable. But for now, let's get to your arguments. Cures1:1 "Free thought is not a curse, it is a cure." First off, let us get something straight. I know in the past that some men have warped religion around for their own nefarious ends, like the days of the Papacy or the Crusades, but the Church is very different than it was back then. I am a testament to this fact. Other religions are more peaceful today as well, while some still are violent. But, again, it really isn't the religion itself. Men take it do what they want because they know it can be used as weapon to control the people who are lost in their spiritual beliefs. To be welcomed into a family where they can belong is a tempting thing to lure people too. But in the right hands, Religion can be just as much a help to people as everyday things. It doesn't have to be bad. Inept10:10 "Religion is thought abortion." Not so good sir. If people like Einstein thought religion feasible, unless you claim to be smarter than him, (Which I very, very...very doubt,)then it must not be totally void of logic, despite it's supernatural tendencies. Thought 7:32 "Thinking, if everyone did it, who would be religious?" Uh, everyone? Religitards 5:55 "If ignorance was body odor, religious beliefs would make you stink like a dumpster of fish and vomit." Well, there is always Febreeze and deodorant. DUH 9:23 "You don't need religion to have morals. If you don't know right from wrong you lack empathy, Not religion." From Time immemorial,Religion has been with Man. Men had no further understanding to what made the universe they were in then than we do today. Thus, they worshiped gods, and from these, they carved something other than idols of wood and stone. They carved out the morals we follow even today. In a more civilized age, of course we are all well aware of basic morality, but things were different back then. But, in today's world, it is true. You don' need religion to have morals.One could argue that we never did, but that's the way it happened, and both sides of morals, so stop whining about "you don't need religion!" That doesn't make it stupid. BigKid 2:50 "You believe in a book that has talking animals, wizards, witches, demons, sticks turning into snakes, burning bushes, food falling from the sky, people walking on water, and all sorts of magical, absurd and primitive stories, and you say that we are the ones that need help?" Well now, I didn't know we had Withes and Wizards in the Bible. Cool. A lot of people misunderstand this fact. THEY ARE MIRACLES. They are supposed to be unbelievable, unexplained. It was to show proof of God's power because it was outside the norm. If everyone walked across water, no one would have batted an eye if Jesus did it. Inept 5:55 "Logic, Reason, evidence, critical think, and facts are religion's natural enemies." (Sigh) You know, I know the whole supernatural thing is too far fetched for some people but honestly, the other stuff that has nothing to do with the supernatural in the Bible is thrown out as superstitious nonsense. Religious or not, you can still learn from this book. ConMen 7:2 "They promise you heaven so that they can steal this world." Oh really, from who? You, the so called "Intelligent person who relies on quotes from Atheist authors to get him out of an argument that he can't fight on his own?" The one who's got it all figured out? So by your logic, we steal acres of land just by saying you go to heaven after you die? News to me. Devient.genie 7:6 "We will learn everything we knew before we were born when we die." Um, okay? Mind explaining a little? IDIOTS 6:13 "Allegories, parables, opinions, apologies, metaphors, interpretations, and excuses, these are the ingredients to the religious mind." Well, you weren't very loved as a child then if your parents never told you any stories to teach you a lesson. In fact, I may need to have a word with them about the snotty child they raised. Opinions? OMG, Opinions are not allowed anymore? OH THE HUMANITY. People use metaphors all the time, everyone interprets things, just like your interpreting religion as an evil thing. So by your logic, you have a religious mind. Excuses? Really? How old are you? Five? Thoughts 7:17 "Morality is doing what is right regardless of what you are told. Religion is doing what you're told regardless of what's right." Religion, for the most part, simply offers a reward for doing good things. Who cares if someone told you to do right, you're still doing right! Think of the reward as that warm fuzzy feeling inside when you help an old lady across the street. Religitards 1:1 "When believing in an unproven god is more important to you than searching for the truth through logic, reason, and evidence and critical thinking, you are a religitard." Tsk, tsk. Yeah, so I believe in God. Does that occupy every single moments of my time? No. I still live life like any average human being. Who say's I don;t use truth, reason, evidence, and critical thinking? The Bible is our evidence, our reason, and whatever is left unanswered is left to critical thinking by the many theologians we have. I have use critical thinking on deciding on what I really believe, and I guess that makes me a religitard. BigKids 5:35 "Assume Nothing. Question everything. Start thinking." As I explained in the last one, I questioned everything about my religion, and it only made my belief in it stronger. But, on some level, I agree. You should question your beliefs, because how can you find what you really believe in? Smartest thing you've said all day devient.genie. Good for you! QUESTIONS 12:20--"How many religious people are only religious because they are caught up in a Paradox? People can make decisions based NOT on what they actually want to do, but on what they think that other people want to do, with the result that everybody decides to do something that nobody really wants to do, but only what they thought that everybody else wanted to do, this is known as the Abilene Paradox.".......Yeah sure whatever. I'm religious because I believe it. It's because I made the choice to believe, not because my parents or the Jehovah's Witnesses down the street broke in and demanded me to convert,(not really). BigKids 5:18--"The moment you declare a set of ideas to be immune from criticism, satire, derision and contempt freedom of thought becomes impossible--Salman Rushdie." Are you sure? Because we seem to be able to think freely nowadays. Have you seen this thing called the internet? Weaklings 9:32 "If your faith can move mountains, it should be able to withstand criticism." Uh, are you kidding me with this one? Yes it can. If it couldn't, it wouldn't still be held in the hearts of the majority of the human population. I'm not exactly straining under the weight of all your intelligent arguments. Do to only 74 letters I can put down left, I'll finish this up next round.