I actually quite enjoy debating religion, well I enjoy debating in general but religion is a fun topic for me! I have nothing against one having beliefs, where things get fun are when said person tries to argue that their religious view is more correct than another, or that science cannot possibly add up to this view that they have.
I try to limit my beliefs and be as open as I possibly can for belief systems are really just stubborn thoughts, you're only limiting your minds potential to what the wonders of life behold, waiting to be discovered. "What do we really know about life?" This is a commonly asked question, what it means has little to do with what we currently know being wrong, but that we are only a tiny spec in the universe and so what we know is no different. Of course, what we currently think we know may not all be accurate, but it depends what your authority is concerning said knowledge base, science accepts the possibility of being wrong and is open to change - it's already taken that into account. On the other hand, this post is concerning religion, something that is generally a little more ignorant towards change.
These are seven questions that I ask in any argument,or debate. Although I did quite a bit of research into different religious views, I was raised as a Christian, so my examples are usually a little more biased towards that side of religion. None-the-less, let us get started!
1) Why do we have to have been created, what's wrong with evolution?
We understand much more about the universe based on science, evolution is a very real thing. It means change over time, the moment to come will have changed from the current moment, that is evolution on a very small scale.
One of the arguments I find religious people like to make is, "how could life have been created by chance?" Well, there's a few words in there that make that question extremely biased, in favour of religion. Those words would be "created" and "chance." Nothing was "there" to create life (other than life itself, of course), the big bang was like a spark turning into a fire, the spark was only one factor in how we've got to this point in time. Chance? What is random about this? Nothing is truly random, life is actually pretty organized. Life travels down the path of least resistance, it just continues, moves onward. What's random is assuming that there is a God, that is a physical entity, that created life - which brings us to our next question.
2) If there is a God, where did "he" come from?
If we're modelling God as a "he," we're modelling "him" after ourselves which means we're viewing "him" as a being similar to how we're beings. If this is the case, where did "he" come from? Even if we aren't labelling God as a being similar to how we're beings, where did this God come from?
3) What is God, and how do you know?
This idea of God comes from self proclaimed man-made religious stories, and there is absolutely nothing to even prove that the supposed writers existed as who they claimed to be, let alone God.
4) If God commanded humans to write your religious books, but you only know about God through your religious books, how genuine is this idea of God?
This question is extremely self explanatory... There really isn't much else I can say.
5) If your religion is the only right or correct religion, then what about all of the other religions that equally claim to be the only right or correct religion?
Especially concerning religions of which are so similar to each other as Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. What about Baha'i Faith, Buddhism, Hinduism, Confucianism, Jainism, Shinto, Sikhism, Taoism, and many other belief systems from Satanism, to Gypsies, or even Vampirism? These are just examples of religions, what about the various sections that they're broken down into, how do you define what is right from wrong when they all claim to be the only correct view? The general answer is either "the devil did it" or that "it comes down to personal choice," which isn't the worst answer to give, but it completely undermines the point of having a belief.
6) If you believe in Jesus, what do you think of the hundreds of other Jesus' who all followed the same story line over different ages, and through different belief systems, all similar to christianity?
The best example I can give of this is Horus; the Egyptian Jesus three thousand years before Jesus. Here's an interesting Wikipedia page I stumbled accross on Jesus Christ in comparative mythology if anyone's interested in furthering their knowledge on this subject — or maybe you're just curious, there's nothing wrong with that!
7) What is the history of your religion, and the history of religion in general?
If you're going to have a religious belief system, at least understand it. Faith isn't an excuse for stubborn ignorance. Actually, as it turns out, religion didn't originally mean what it does today. This whole literal interpretation of looking at life as God is more of a modern thing, religion used to mean what we essentially look at as Spirituality today - which is that God is in the self and that we are life.
Christianity may have the oldest known book, but the first religious texts are from Hinduism, which is the oldest known organized religion. Hinduism didn't originally have anything to do with a God, just Karma and Reincarnation. There were only a few scripts compared to the golden book of how not to live. Of course the Bible, among other religious books or texts, does have a lot of good information and stories to tell, but it's been taken completely out of context and way too literally for its own good - they're just stories. Unless one can step out of his own stubborn thoughts, he won't be able to understand them. As far as I'm concerned, our purpose is whatever we make it - if you were told that your purpose was to pick flowers all day since you were young, that's what you would do because that's what's been put in your head. I'm not so against religion, just these stubborn interpretations of it that take away any real meaning from God. God isn't a being of his own, God is life, the universe, shit like that, and religion is an ancient people's interpretation of life. In the end if the day, religion has a very simple message, and that of a message of Love.
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