People should have a religion

People should have a religion. Prove me wrong.

Why should people be forced to have a religion? Do you mean by everyone should have a religion?

We must acknowledge that majority of the world practice religion in different manners, Like Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Paganism, Etc. However, What about the 16% or 1. 2 billion people who are atheist, Agnostic, Secularist, And anyone non-religious? Why should they have to adopt a religion? It's freedom to express whatever religious or non-religious affiliations you want to express. Not everyone has to be in a religion.

*Please elaborate more on your position so I have a clearer understanding on your views*

Thank you for taking the challenge.
The definition of religion: A pursuit or interest followed with great devotion. So following that statement, A religion does not only consist of Islam or Christianity etc. To have a religion is to believe in something whether it be a higher power or even yourself. If you believe that running every morning before work will make you a healthier person and so you do it religiously every day. Therefore you have adopted running as your religion. A guiding force that gets you through the day. I'm not saying people should submit themselves to a higher power, I'm saying that people should devote themselves to something meaningful that gives their life a meaning. Why shouldn't someone believe in something greater than themselves if it makes them better people in society.

If we actually take a look of the definition of religion, It's 'the belief in and worship of a superhuman controlling power, Especially a personal God or gods'. That's the definition that numerous people would agree too. I believe you would also agree that definition to be to one that's use on a day-to-day basis.

The part where we differ is when we define religion as 'a pursuit or interest followed with great devotion'. I'm well aware that's part of the definition, But no one uses that definition when they talk about religion. "If you believe that running every morning before work will make you a healthier person and so you do it religiously every day. Therefore you have adopted running as your religion. " In this sense, You used 'religiously' as a adjective rather than to identify yourself with a religious organisation. If we use that same logic, I could say that i religiously take illegal drugs. Therefore it's my religion. Also, Where does it end? If i have a great devotion towards anything, Like eating food, Exercise, Playing on my phone, Does it make it a religion? I don't think so.

"I'm saying that people should devote themselves to something meaningful that gives their life a meaning. " I totally 100% agree with that statement. However, Devoting something that will improve you as a person does not warrant a religion, As i previously talked about. Other words to describe devoting to something can be a 'routine', Like "I have a routine to read books every night", Or 'lifestyle', Like "exercising 5 times a week is going to be a part of my lifestyle. " No one says "Since i run everyday religiously, It must be my religion".

"Why shouldn't someone believe in something greater than themselves if it makes them better people in society? " Again, I totally agree with this statement, But again, Striving to be a better person with great devotion is not a religion. If we look back to the main definition of religion, It's 'the belief in and worship of a superhuman controlling power, Especially a personal God or gods'. Being a better person is not a superhuman controlling power, It's a total human thing to do. Thus, Actively improving on oneself is not called a religion, But rather it's called a routine or lifestyle.

You have a fair enough point. So let's look at the main definition,
'the belief in and worship of a superhuman controlling power, Especially a personal God or gods'. Religion is all about giving and loving. Christianity speaks about loving your neighbour as yourself. Islam speaks about training oneself to give to charity in times of wealth and struggle. Judaism speaks about disbursing ones bounty to others. Thus, When you are in a position to assist someone else you do so as means of justice. And I can go on and on. Let's look at the case of the Belize prison, The prisons main principal is religion terrorists and rapists go there and they leave there changed men, Yes they can't change their past but they leave the prison with a changed mindset all thanks to religion. Whether what they believe in is true or not, That is for another debate all that matters is that they are leaving willing to be a change in the world, Why would you stop that if it is proven to work time and time again?

"Religion is all about giving and loving". I disagree that religion is "all" about giving and loving. Although there are many good people who are Christians, Muslims, Jews, Etc, There are people who have done bad things in the name of religion.
- During the Crusade period, Many Christians killed anyone who was non-christian because the teachings of other religions were contradictory to the bible. In the bible, It does say "bring there those enemies of mine (Jesus), Who did not want me to reign over them, And slay them before me", Luke 19:27. It's a wonder where the Christians in the crusade period got this idea of massacre of non-christians. I don't know about you but that doesn't sound very loving to me.
- Let's look at the present. ISIS is a terrorist organisation that promotes the idea all non-muslims should be killed because it's Allah's message. In the Quran, It states to "not to make friendship with Jews and Christians" (5:51), "kill the disbelievers wherever we find them" (2:191), "murder them and treat them harshly" (9:123). This is where the organisation get their ideology from.

My point is that religion can inflict harm onto other people, And forcing the 1. 2 billion non-religious people to adopt a religion is absurd. However, Just because someone is religious, Doesn't mean they don't do good deeds, But the same can be said to the non-religious. There are good and bad people in every position.

One thing to point out is that there are a lot of non-religious organisations that help make our world a better place. One example of an organisation is Kiva, Where they donated over $40 million dollars to fund many people who are financially unstable. So to need religion to be a good person is an understatement. The only reason for someone to be religious is if they are convinced the particular religion they are apart of is what they believe to be true. You don't need religion to be a good person.

Reference:
- History, June 7 2010, Crusades, Https://www. History. Com/topics/middle-ages/crusades#section_10
- Ibn Warraq, July 2 2004, A Call To All The Muslims Of The World, Https://centerforinquiry. Org/blog/a-call-to-the-muslims-of-the-world/#warraq-ibn
- Kiva, Https://www. Kiva. Org/team/a_atheists_agnostics_skeptics_freethinkers_secular_humanists_and_the_nonreligious

*P. S. - Thanks for actually having a proper debate with me. *