Instigator / Pro
38
1706
rating
33
debates
80.3%
won
Topic
#2393

Is religion harmful?

Status
Finished

The debate is finished. The distribution of the voting points and the winner are presented below.

Winner & statistics
Better arguments
18
0
Better sources
12
10
Better legibility
6
5
Better conduct
2
4

After 6 votes and with 19 points ahead, the winner is...

Theweakeredge
Parameters
Publication date
Last updated date
Type
Standard
Number of rounds
5
Time for argument
Two days
Max argument characters
30,000
Voting period
Two weeks
Point system
Multiple criterions
Voting system
Open
Contender / Con
19
1731
rating
167
debates
73.05%
won
Description

To avoid semantics: The resolution roughly translates to: "Do(es) religion(s) cause harm to people? Just as I can not simply provide one example of religion causing harm, neither can my opponent do the opposite. It may be that there are independent religions that cause harm or do not. What I'm more interested in, is, do religions cause more net harm than they do benefit people?

All of this is way too wordy, and not interesting enough, to fit into a topic. That's why the description is here, to further *describe* and elaborate on the debate. Another reason is that I want to attract certain people to this argument, and a more formally worded one would repel them so....

Onwards we go, as the one making the base assumption, I would have to adopt the BoP and provide the initial evidence. I don't necessarily need a specific structure, but please do separate your arguments enough for the audience to follow along.

Some key definitions from Merriam Webster [1]
Religion - " a personal set or institutionalized system of religious attitudes, beliefs, and practices"
Harm - "physical or mental damage : INJURY"
Cause - "something that brings about an effect or a result"

As set in my prior debate, all definitions are chosen via topicality, or how well they fit the subject being described.

I hope I can have an informative, challenging, and fun debate out of someone on this classic question.

[1] https://www.merriam-webster.com/

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@RationalMadman

**************************************************
>Reported Vote: RationalMadman // Mod action: Not Removed
>Points Awarded: 7:0; 7 points to PRO.
>Reason for Decision: See Vote Tab
>Reason for Mod Action: As this debate was conceded, the votes are non-moderated (except in the rare circumstance that someone votes in favor of the conceded party).

Once more, I post it with almost no time, and do not include sources:
[1] https://iep.utm.edu/val-snd/
[2] https://www.merriam-webster.com/
[3] Bible - (https://www.openbible.info/topics/all_have_sinned)
[4] https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/statistics/major-depression.shtml
[5] https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0146107915577097
[6] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Argument_from_fallacy
[7] https://www.pewforum.org/2019/10/17/in-u-s-decline-of-christianity-continues-at-rapid-pace/
[8] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6080222/
[9] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moving_the_goalposts
[10] https://u.osu.edu/parlettehymeguo/discovery-or-imperialization/forcing-religion-on-the-indigenous/
[11] https://www.un.org/development/desa/indigenouspeoples/mandated-areas1/culture.html#:~:text=Indigenous%20cultures%20threatened%20with%20extinction.&text=However%2C%20indigenous%20peoples%20have%20continued,many%20parts%20of%20the%20world.
[12] https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/acts-of-faith/wp/2016/08/02/catholic-schools-for-native-americans-known-for-abuse-and-assimilation-try-to-do-good/

Rest assured, the sources will be listed in round 4.

And because it's like 4 in the morning and I accidentally deleted my sources from the argument, Round 2 sources here, if you don't accept this, I'll simply post them in round 3.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homosexuality_and_religion#cite_note-69
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_wars_by_death_toll
[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religious_war
[4] https://www.statista.com/statistics/183657/average-size-of-a-family-in-the-us/#:~:text=Families%20in%20the%20United%20States&text=The%20average%20family%20consisted%20of,18%20living%20in%20the%20household.
[5] https://dunmorepa.gov/news/importance-strong-communities/#:~:text=Being%20a%20part%20of%20a,have%20a%20sense%20of%20community.
[6] https://verdict.justia.com/2020/04/14/religions-harm-people
[7] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religious_abuse

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@BearMan

Obviously the size of each religion matters. Let's say you have a multi flavored cake. and the majority flavors were Chocolate, Vanilla, and Strawberry. With tiny, tiny slices of Cheese cake, birthday cake, all kinds of different flavors. If a person were to decide whether they liked the cake or not, whether the majority flavors tasted good or not would matter much more than the tiny tiny percentages. If you were to only look at something semantically, PERHAPS, you could come to the conclusion you have, but with context I have provided, obviously it is a non-sequitur.

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@Theweakeredge

Obviously you are ignoring the scope of the debate. There are 4200 religions, you have stated four. I don't really care how big the four are, you have to prove that most if not all religions are harmful

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@BearMan

First of all, I still haven't implied all religions, I simply said "Religion" not "All religion" this is a clear distinction. Saying the former instead of latter, implies generality. Second, you ignoring the fact that all of my examples were large sects of christianity, which is one of the most, if not the most populated religions. Obviously they represent a bigger chunk then the thousand other 1% religions.

https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2017/04/05/christians-remain-worlds-largest-religious-group-but-they-are-declining-in-europe/

To be fair, I will not be voting on this debate, as I am biased.

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@Theweakeredge

Generally is never in the description as follows. Even if you don't mean all religions, which the resolution implies, you have to prove that most religions are harmful to society, which still you have not skimmed the top of. You haven't covered any Asian religions. There are an estimated 4200 religions in the world and you have stated four.

https://www.reference.com/world-view/many-religions-world-8f3af083e8592895

Pretty good case from PRO, but still very much winnable from CON. Looking forward to this

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@Intelligence_06

Thats fair, school is school.

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@Theweakeredge

Mandatory school will make me either submit it today, or tomorrow this time, or never.

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@BearMan

Saying a word, Milkshake, does not imply ALL milkshakes. Fish are blue. Isn't necessarily saying that all fish are blue, there isn't enough information there to assume that ALL fish are blue. Of course it CAN imply that, but it does not necessarily have too. Again, semantic is semantic.

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@BearMan

I believe that I said, GENERALLY, in the description. Please stop it with the semantic ignorance.

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@Theweakeredge

All you've proven is a set of Western-based religions are harmful to society. You have to prove that every religion is harmful to society, not most. Your burden of proof is gigantic, and you have barely skimmed the top lol

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@Intelligence_06

I apologize for the late argument, I've been very busy recently, hopefully my 1st round is challenging enough.

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@Theweakeredge

It is boring arguing about stuff that I know too much to not win. I want to have a real buzz of challenge.

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@Intelligence_06

That's fair, kinda nervous for my first serious debate here, but hopefully I provide a good challenge. I'll post first argument then.

By no means I am a theist, and I am playing no devil's advocate: Religion isn't harmful. I am an atheist that believes that religion is good to an extent, just like I am a person who believes in laissez-faire capitalism raised in a socialist nation.

I'm tempted, but I'm waaaayyy too busy at the moment.