Humanity would be better off if there were no religions

I had expected this to be a debate on the pros and cons of religion, and I was rather surprised by the decision of both sides to completely abandon the resolution and have a rap battle instead. In R1, Pro proposed that voters judge lyricism, flow, disses, and rhyme on a scale of 1-4. Con's only objection, which they did not give until R3, was “no, that's gay.” Without further elaboration from Con on why exactly this proposal was gay or why he believes rap music should not be judged in a gay way, I must default to Pro's system.

==PRO==

Lyricism (4/4): Pro was able to use complex metaphors and clear analogies. Finding Con's Facebook account and comparing the shape of his mouth to a chicken, while also using it as a complex metaphor for poverty and class struggle, scored a lot of points for Pro in just the first round. Normally, I wouldn't award points for using a “Uranus” pun, but Pro was able to use it as part of a complex metaphor about how governments restrict free speech.

Flow (1/4): Pro does very poorly here, since their doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to the number of syllables they put in each line. For example, when Pro said, “Socialism is a reckoning on class inequality that requires collective effort to achieve, but it cannot succeed in an individualistic society like the US / Oh yes,” the switch from 50 syllables to 2 syllables felt a bit jarring.

Disses (1/4): This is clearly Pro's weakest point in the battle. The comparison of Con's mouth to a chicken was funny, but the photo was clearly taken with a front-facing lens, so criticizing Con's looks based on that picture seems a bit unfair. Con was also able to rebut most of the disses Pro made about Con's mother dying, since Pro admitted in another thread to murdering his entire family.

Rhyme (4/4): Pro comes out ahead here by rhyming “orange” with “door hinge,” “storage,” “porridge,” “four kids,” “sore limbs,” “floor kick,” “drawer and,” etc. I think quantity beats quality here.

==CON==

Lyricism (1/4): Con does not attempt to use any metaphors, and most of his attacks were on-the-nose, so to speak. Most of Con's insults were straight and to the point, without leaving a lot of room for flips or analogies. For example, “You're fat. Your waist is big. / Oink! You're shaped like a pig.” The only metaphor here is comparing Pro's figure to that of a pig, and Pro was able to completely flip this point by turning it into a critical examination of capitalism in the United States.

Flow (4/4): In R2, Con sticks entirely to iambic pentameter, which I found to be very impressive. They make a few mistakes in other rounds, but it's not enough to hold against them.

Disses (4/4): Con's disses were reminiscent of the late rapper Tupac’s famous album, “I'd like to chop off your limbs.” Con easily came out ahead on disses by describing in great detail how he would chop off and disintegrate each of Pro's limbs.

Rhyme (1/4): Unfortunately, Con rhymed “pig” with itself five times, which strongly detracted from the quality of their verses. I'm glad that Con's rapping style had other redeeming qualities.

I did not expect a tie, but both participants scored 10 points out of a potential 16. I considered going back to look for a symmetry breaker, but both sides were so entertaining that a tie felt like an appropriate outcome.