The Debate Thread
So since Basil enjoys debating and argueing so much, I thought, why not make a thread where everyone comes to argue? That way, there's not a million trolls making a trillion troll threads, and trolling everyone
I will be occasionally commenting, and keeping track of special participants who I find to be pursuasive, logical, ect. Every few pages I will announce which side I thought won, with a few reasons, and where I'll announce a new topic.
[b]Today's first debate topic: Religion results in more good than harm.[/b]
If you are to make a point, you MUST provide a logical point of view to back it up. Mere accusations will not be considered.
July 31, 2011
8 Comments • Newest first
Organized religion does a lot of good, but it also does a lot of harm. It really depends on how you see it. There are upstanding religious folk that do good things like organize church-run charities aimed at the poor, being very peaceful and tolerant of others. Then you have extremists who skew their religion's ideals, hurting other people in the process. There's nothing wrong with having a belief, but it's wrong when you attack others because it doesn't match up with your own. Morals stem from the individual himself/herself, and how they see their religion is influenced by those morals that they were instilled with.
I think when religion is organized and involves forcing people to eat up your own viewpoints, then it's not okay. Beliefs should be from personal experience and not from someone teaching, brainwashing, and forcing you to conform to theirs.
Overall, if you're too zealous about your beliefs to the point you hurt people, you're doing more bad than good obviously. It's not limited to the religious. As long as nobody hurts, demeans, or gets in the way of anybody who means no harm, you could believe in Greek mythology for all that matters. Religion itself doesn't do harm. The people in it do.
[quote=LightIIStruck]Wouldn't that make religious people inherently bad people because they do not cause harm in fear of spiritual retribution instead of not causing harm because of the common good?[/quote]
Can you elaborate on this further please?
[quote=Bluex3]@XDragonLordX: Scientology You should see what they are doing, Brainwashing?
EDIT: [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_end_times_prediction]Judgement Day, Someone thought this was actually true, and killed himself that day. o.o[/url][/quote]
Wow I've never heard of that before, but I guess it does happen...scary things these days o.o I wonder what the guy who came up with this theory is thinking about these days...
@XDragonLordX: Scientology You should see what they are doing, Brainwashing?
EDIT: [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_end_times_prediction]Judgement Day, Someone thought this was actually true, and killed himself that day. o.o[/url]
[quote=Bluex3]The Government should be spending more to prevent famine and hunger. And less on the Miltiary.
-popcorn pleaseeee- [/quote]
Read my post entirely please. There is already a debating topic.
I am a creationist
I believe man created god.
The Government should be spending more to prevent famine and hunger. And less on the Miltiary.
-popcorn pleaseeee-
I'll play along.
Humans have, for as long as they existed, tried to use force to take what they want. They have murdered out of jealousy, insanity, greed, etc... Religion is 1 excuse of many. If you honestly feel that religion is the fundamental problem with humanity, then you need to better understand the primal urges we all have wired into us. If all of Israel converted to Islam tomorrow, do you honestly feel for the tiniest second that all their neighbors would embrace them? No, they would simply move onto the next excuse to demand their extinction.
If it's not religion, it's the color of their skin. If the color is the same, it's their political affiliation. If that's the same, it's the arbitrary boundary they live on as drawn on a random map you recognize but they dont. If it's not their nationality, it's the fact that their leader slept with your leaders beloved. There will ALWAYS be excuses given. Focusing on religion as the cause of violence is simply a mechanism for those that don't have a religion to feel smug about themselves.
Future topics: If you're not a liberal at twenty you have no heart, if you're not a conservative at forty you have no brain.
Or- Anyone that wants to cut defense spending (not just reduce waste, which we MUST do, but truly cut back our military might) is utterly naive. Groups of human beings have willing to take what they can by force have existed as long as mankind and their monkey ancestors have existed. The reason you can make a statement that there are no major dangers anymore is DUE TO the fact that we have such an overwhelming ability to project force.
Or- Comparing gay marriage to the 'slippery slope' of polygamy misses the point. It's not about whether it's 1 man-1 woman, or 2 men, or 2 women. It's about you choosing to dedicate your life to one person. Polygamy missed that fundamental concept, whereby making its comparison to gay marriage a red herring.
Or- The potential for human life is something to be valued. When you choose to snuff out that life in order to graduate on time, you're making a clear statement that you value your own time more than the potential for human life represented by that fetus.
Or- I believe in a higher power (call it Yawah, God, or whatever you choose). I find anyone that claims there's nothing great than the 4 dimensions we observe each day to be utterly close minded. Even if there's no old dude sitting on a mountain top handing out stone tablets, it's utterly naive to deny the existence of a higher power.