Should religion be allowed in debates?

[FuzzBall 005]

The reason I ask is this is becuase my history class decided to turn into a law firm for a day for some reason. We had to debate suicide, woops sorry I mean "euthanasia"(political correctness). The opponets kept throwing out bible things while me and the other "emos" had facts, and numbers.

Well what im trying to say is, do you think religion should be a valid source to turn to in debates?  

[B1g_crunch]

Using religion in debates is like bringing a knife to a gunfight: It's extremely ballsy but retarded and will get you killed by the people who are better armed. rofl  

[Lord Maxdom]

Depends on who is wielding the knife if you ask me.  

[dl1371]

No
Religion isn't a reliable source unless everyone is part of that religion.  

[Captain_Shinzo]

Bringing religion to a debate is like going to a show-and-tell and only bringing a box to talk about what is inside the box.
No one knows what is in the box, and you suggest you have the best idea for the box. Therefor, your word on the box means more than others.


Same goes for a debate.
I could talk about Homosexuality and how correct the love is and such.
But when you bring GOD in there, anything could happen.
To Atheists, God is made up.
Christians can morph God like clay, forming their own ideas.
" Homosexuality is different so it is wrong. "


Same goes for the debate with weed.
" God detests weed because it is different and wrong. "


When you go as far as saying that, your pretty much saying
" ******** this, this is totally wrong. "
It's all about "God says".


In all honesty, religion shouldn't be in arguments because you don't get an answer. You just get a statement. An opinion. Know what I mean?  

[Calamity Rose]

I think using the bible as a "legitimate" source for debate should be countered with using the vedas or another holy book that they don't believe in. Or a book of fairytales, if you'd like. It's all the same.  

[[-Erik-]]

No.

It doesn't let the argument achive an answer and it makes people belive they have a unique right no one else has, which is that of acting like assholes and be disrespectful towards other's beliefs and feel offended if somebody dares to persecute them for being christians.

Unless:

-It's a religious debate
-Everyone is part of religion X  

[Lethkhar]

Only if the judge has the same religion as you.  

[Celestial Fireflies]

I think it depends on what the debate is about. If it's about anything in regards to the law (I mostly mean American law for lack of knowledge on the freedom of religion in other countries), under no circumstances do I feel it's appropriate to fall back on what your religion says. Freedom of religion is a right, and as long as I am guaranteed that right, I should not be bound to the rules of a religion I do not follow solely for religious purposes. That is, I shouldn't be forced to follow a rule if the only reason behind it is, "because God says so". For that reason, religion has no place in legal debates.

Now, as far as religious debates go, it would be appropriate, but I can't think of any other type of debate which would call for religious perspective. Using your religion to explain why you come from the mindset you do may be helpful in a discussion (not necessarily a debate), but unless it's a debate about that religion, I don't think it would provide a strong argument. Everyone's religions and cultures have different standards on what is okay and what isn't, and without solid fact to back you up, all you would really be doing is debating on why you should listen to one religion over another.  

[dl1371]

Lethkhar

Only if the judge has the same religion as you.

Yeah, but even if they do, if the other people in the debate don't then they'll slap the judge for allowing someone to cite a religion as a source
Then again...
That is a good way to win a debate.  

[Lethkhar]

dl1371

Lethkhar

Only if the judge has the same religion as you.

Yeah, but even if they do, if the other people in the debate don't then they'll slap the judge for allowing someone to cite a religion as a source
Then again...
That is a good way to win a debate.

Slapping the judge is not a good way to win a debate.  

[dl1371]

Lethkhar

dl1371

Lethkhar

Only if the judge has the same religion as you.

Yeah, but even if they do, if the other people in the debate don't then they'll slap the judge for allowing someone to cite a religion as a source
Then again...
That is a good way to win a debate.

Slapping the judge is not a good way to win a debate.

Yeah, but if someone else slaps the judge then you might win.  

[PetreyDish]

You can, because religious reasoning plays into many peoples lives.
OH LOOK I'M GOING AGAINST THE GRAIN  

[Doredia]

you obviously cannot.

I had a debate with my class over homosexuality. Half the class was against it, and half the class for it. The anti-homosexual section only brought up the it's against the bible. I think our teacher got tired of it too xD  

[Levis Pennae]

According to the basic rules of scientific resources you cannot use a journal, book, etc. as a resource unless the results have been vindicated by a third party or references another resource that does so. So according to this basic rule you cannot use the bible as a reference unless it is a religious or purely literary debate.
That's my