Religion is overall not beneficial to the well being of society and humanity

We must first stand in awe at all the points that my opponent does not even dare mention or contest. Not only are religious countries the most corrupt but religion PROMOTES it. “Considering the variety of corruption measures, the reliability of data, and the large number of included countries, we have to conclude that religiosity not only does not impede corruption but tends to promote it… Based on the above-mentioned arguments, we may conclude that while religiosity provides guidance on morality, some of its characteristics practically promote corrupt business behavior. ”(15) Every religion at its core truly believes that it’s the one and only true religion. Christians believe that only they have the right true religion vice versa Muslims believe their religion is true. The result of such nonsense is that religions constantly come into conflict with other religions ending up with the slaughter and murder of countless delusional people. Take merely the crusades as one example the religious wereguaranteed a spot in heaven if they perished while in combat by Pope Urban II in 1095 he said it was “the will of God! ”. [11] What happened? Aside from losing the crusades even though with “The will of God” The total number of deaths due to the crusades is at least nine million, at least half of which were Christians. Many of these were simply innocent civilians caught in the carnage. [13] In 1000s A. D this was over 3.9% of the world population solely in this war alone. Ponder for a moment all the potential that humanity was robbed of because of this event alone. Even today it is still in many countries illegal to be an atheist. A direct cuase of religion. Atheists Face Death Penalty In 13 Countries! This is today. The farther back the worse discrimination. [12] Until the 16th Century Christianity did it’s best to suppress science and discovery the cases of Nicolas Copernicus, Galileo Galilei and Giordano Bruno are few examples of it’s spite for science. The Church also opposed the the printing press, concerned that the scriptures and other knowledge would become easily available to the masses, thus by-passing the traditional vetting and interpretation of the clergy. The conflict between religion and science continues today as Christian fundamentalists demand that their creation myth be taught in place of, or alongside, the theory of evolution in the public schools. Religion also desires to suppress free speech with the Catholic Church’s Index of Prohibited Books the Muslim fatwa against author Salman Rushdie for his 1989 book “The Satanic Verses”, and violent Muslim demonstrations against the Danish cartoons depicting Mohammed in 2005 are only but a few examples. Martyrdom and sucide bombers happen for entirely religious reasons. 911 exemplified this. Saudi Arabian women are required to wear the abaya, a black loose outfit that is reserved for Arab women so as to prevent men from viewing them as sex symbols. The Quran contains over 109 verses that call Muslims to war with nonbelievers for the sake of Islamic rule. With commands to chop off heads ,fingers and kill infidels wherever they may be hiding those who do not join the fight are called 'hypocrites' and warned that Allah will send them to Hell if they do not join the slaughter. This is again one of many many examples of religion causing direct suffering. Christianity is homophobic. Christianity is misogynistic Christianity commands you to Kill People Who Don't Listen to Priests Kill Witches Kill Homosexuals Kill Fortunetellers Death for Hitting Dad Death for Cursing Parents Death for Adultery Death for Fornication Death to Followers of Other Religions Kill Nonbelievers Kill False Prophets Religion also desires to suppress free speech with the Catholic Church’s Index of Prohibited Books the Muslim fatwa against author Salman Rushdie for his 1989 book “The Satanic Verses”, and violent Muslim demonstrations against the Danish cartoons depicting Mohammed in 2005 are only but a few examples. In India Hindu law gives women limited rights to inheritance the oppression of females in India. What about the countless people who are born gay ? What about the stresses and tourment they go through if there parents or themselves are devoutly religious? They are made to think of themselves as evil and worthless. Now I will move on to Con's "rebuttals". .. My opponent fabricates a qoute which I never said. The actual qoute is listed below. "While correlation doesn’t necessarily imply causation correlation is evidence of a casual link being illustrated by correlation and here we see undeniable amounts of correlation. "That being said perhaps my opponent does not fully understand the ramifications of my statement. My opponent then goes on to call the following points "irrelevant" , he provides no basis as to why we should consider the below correlations irrelevant. “The Global Peace Index Moreover Demonstrates That Least Religious Countries among MostPeaceful, Highly Religious Countries among the Least Peaceful[5]” “Furthermore secular nations donate the most money and supportive aid, per capita, to poorernations. “ “Oliner (1988) and Varese and Yaish (2000), in their studies of heroic altruism duringthe Holocaust, have found that the more secular people were, the more theyrescued and helped persecuted Jews. ” My opponent then proceeds to leave out the following sentance , which he fails to address. "This is highly indicative that people do not need religion as a prerequisite to perform moral acts. And indeed evidence shows that a lack of religious beliefs leads to higher altruistic acts of kindness. "Rebuttal to Christian Wars and Oppression My opponent's outlandish response is that "religion was not the sole cause of these problems" Really? let's investigate that claim further. Take merely the crusades as one example the religious wereguaranteed a spot in heaven if they perished while in combat by Pope Urban II in 1095 he said it was “the will of God! ”. My opponent claims that this was not becuse of religion. .. ? According to Pope Urban II they where guaranteeed a spot in heaven if they perished in combat. What could possibly be a greater motivator than that to kill and slaughter people. If the deluded followers of that cult had not truly belived such nonsense they would have never been a war. Furthermore the cause of the crusades was entirely religious it was a fight to secure the holy land. Moreover that's merely one of many many religiously inspired wars. Also keep in mind. "Religion is overall not beneficial to the well being of society and humanity"Rebuttal to Suppression of Scientific Progress Christians burned the priest Giordano Bruno to death in 1600 for the charge of holding opinions contrary to the Catholic faith. Bruno praised Copernicus for establishing a scientific explanation for heliocentrism and published dialogues on the subject. Furthermore in 1603, Bruno's works appeared on the List of Prohibited Books which aimed to protect the faith by preventing the reading of books or works containing scientific works by the astronomer Johannes Kepler, Francis Bacon, Rene Descartes, Blaise Pascal and others. It took until 1966 before Pope Paul VI finally abolished the Prohibitorum. During a Roman Catholic Inquisition, they imprisoned Galileo for his beliefs of a heliocentric solar system and forced him, under threat of torture, to recant. Did religion cause the dark ages. .. ? Let's review the facts. 314 Immediately after its full legalisation, the Christian Church attacks non-Christians. The Council of Ancyra denounces the worship of goddess Artemis. 324 In Didyma, Minor Asia, The emperor Constantine sacks the Oracle of the god Apollo and tortures the pagan priests to death. He also evicts all non-Christian peoples from Mount Athos and destroys all the local Hellenic temples. 325 Council of Nicea. stantine sacks many pagan temples in Asia Minor and Palestine and orders the execution by crucifixion of “all magicians and soothsayers. ” Martyrdom of the neoplatonist philosopher Sopatrus. 353 An edict of Constantius orders the death penalty for all kind of worship through sacrifice and “idols”. Execution of pagan priests begins. 359 In Skythopolis, Syria, the Christians organise the first death camps for the torture and executions of the arrested non-Christians from all around the empire. 364 Emperor Jovian orders the burning of the Library of Antioch 380 The notorious Edict of Thessalonika. On 27th February Christianity becomes the exclusive religion of the Roman Empire by an edict of the Emperor FlaviusTheodosius, requiring that: "All the various nations which are subject to our clemency and moderation should continue in the profession of that religion which was delivered to the Romans by the divine Apostle Peter. " Non-Christians are called “loathsome, heretics, stupid and blind” 396 On 7th December, a new edict by Arcadius orders that paganism be treated as high treason. Imprisonment of the few remaining pagan priests and hierophants.448 Theodosius II orders all non-Christian books to be burned. The role that religion played in the dark ages is undeniable if there was no religious friction between different religious faith , surely there woulden't have been all the violence and slaughter and loss of great works. Rebuttal to StressQuite simply incorrect both the religon and religous leaders do as I outlined in my opening case. Rebuttal to MisogynyCon is simply incorrect here aswell islamic law requires this and religous leaders which are empowerd by the religion itself. conclusion. my Opponent's arguments don't hold water when ingestigated further , his entirely vacus assumptions are unsupported by evidence. Moreover he has yet to make one valid argument agianst the motion. "Religion is overall not beneficial to the well being of society and humanityReligion is overall not beneficial to the well being of society and humanity" I've provided numerous examples of how religion cuases violence and injustice.