Religion, how it contradicts, is judgeful,questionable,and what the true religion could possibly be

== Religion, how it contradicts, is judgeful,questionable,and what the true religion could possibly be - 10/23/2007 (https://www.debate.org/debates/Religion-how-it-contradicts-is-judgefulquestionableand-what-the-true-religion-could-possibly-be/1/) ==

Round 1
Joel_Asher: "I didnt really want to say i was against this topic due to the fact that i believe in God and Jesus including what was done for us, to a point. But at the same time i believe a lot of the "good book" was manmade. I feel that when it comes to religion, no exact religion can be wrong if it is a true belief of God and what he has done. But what i do consider is whether what people have been fed is everyones own interpretaion of the bible and other religions from those who preach. then i question this, a person can write a story right now concerning a nonfictional event or character and tell everyone it is real and that it was historical, especially by doing their studies and tying it in with other events, so if a person can do that now then why not then? or seeings how religion was so important masses needed to be slaughtered then maybe it was a form of control and if no one complied they were eradicated. so does it just come down to what a person really believes in their hearts? i feel that is the case and that there is truth in all religions or all things period. i definitely believe there is a heaven and a hell, but i also believe that because i believe that i will be going to one or the other when i pass and my judgemnet will be up to me considering on how guilty i feel my heart is. but i will not say that a person who thinks they will die and wake up some time later, maybe thousands of years later as a dog or a new person. I believe that could be a good possibilty due to my indecision on whats out there waiting for us."

wryan: "I believe that some religions can be wrong. However, they will not be theologically incorrect, but morally incorrect. For example, take the Peoples Temple, the Movement for the Restoration of the Ten Commandments of God, Solar Temple,or Heaven's Gate. All of these cult's ended up committing massive, forced suicides. How can a religion that advocates mass murder be considered right?

Another way religions can go wrong is if they advocate or force their members into harmful situations. As an example of this, consider the recent court trial of a rominent Mormon leader. He forced a 14 year old girl to marry against her will, and her "husband then raped her repeatedly. How can you ever advocate rape just because a religion authorizes it? Often times religions will "brainwash" Their member's into following their orders, and will then make them murder or war by order of the church. An example of this would be the Uandan religous group the holy Spirit movement, which ended up effectively becoming an army, fighting against the government and sustaining horrific casualties. Another example of when religion has been bad would be the Children's Crusade. Thanks to their blind devotion to their god early 30,000 children marched to take back the Holy Land. In the ends nearly all of them starved, were killed, or were sold into slavery.  A less extreme example would be Scientology. Scientology's bogus rituals to "purify the spirit", all cost money. In essence, scientology is a pyramid scheme. It has ruined hundreds of people fiancially and destroyed lives. Scientologists have even forced people to sell their homes to finance further "treatments". To sum up my debate, you have said that religions can not be "judgeful" or questionable, to quote. you have also stated that there can be no bad or wrong religions. To disprove you I have supplied a huge list of times when religions have done or advocated things which where horribly, horribly wrong, and definitively prove that religions can be wrong. (I am not saying all religion is bad, but I AM saying that not all religion is right.)"

Round 2
Joel_Asher: "I understand what you are saying completely. But What I feel is that you might have misinterpreted my statement. See I also said that I believe it was all made by man. At the least of 90% of religion or religious devotion is like brain wash. So the judging does not come from God himself but from man and the social norm he provides us with.Who knows what God really wants and what he really expects? So What I am saying is that what is the difference between those religions that you had mentioned and christianity? What about the mass suicides and the islamic religion, what is the difference? Would you say they are both man made? Or is christianity more important or more believable? So I guess I should be more specific about the religions I am talking about. Christianity, Islamic, judiasm, catholicism, buddaism, etc. But like I said, just because one is more popular than the other arent they all the same? With that being the case what is the true religion?"

wryan: "Oh.

Well, I would say that inessence, they are both the same. However, Christianity and the like are positive religions, whereas most cults are negative religions. I guess I basically agreee with you."