This house believes Organised Religion has no place in the 21st Century

This house believes that Organised Religion has no place in the 21st Century: Cambridge Union Society - Dawkins, Copson, Ahmed vs Williams, Ramadan, Murray

1:40 Andrew Copson: 

Clarification: Organised religion not Personal Religion. Org. R should not be banned or persecuted or eliminated or wiped out but the harm it does outweighs the good it does. 

3:35 Back of envelope calculations. balance of good : harm of R in the past - hospices, charitable endeavours v Crusades, witch-burning, the Inquisition, 9/11. Avicena v Osama Bin Laden, Francis of Assis v Adolf Hitler

4:11 Context: democratic, existential threats, social media, interconnected . In 21st Century context what is best place to get attitudes, ethics and habits of mind - not from organised R. 

4:44 Debunk attitude that R is a special spur to moral or social action. In UK non religious volunteers = religious volunteers. Organised Religion adds nothing to compassion and empathy, R In Group more kindly. Tribalism. Fight your neighbour against  your better instincts. Ethics of R is harmful

8:09 What is morality? Artefect of humanity. R have commandments external to reality, dehumanises ethics. Blasphemy as bad as murder. eg birth control, Abortions. 

10:30 Democracy instant knowledge free exchange of info. Human freedom advanced. Prop up repressive regimes. 

11.40: What is good in R is not unique. Simple human compassion. Decisions  based on evidence with the goal of human welfare, global organisation. Sectarianism, fossilised authoritarianism - organised R a force for harm rather than good.

13: 40 - 25:10 Rowan Williams 

25: 11 - 29:00 Questions 

29:00 Richard Dawkins 

Scientific Truth: Is R true? Truth morally is important. Deist god of the physicist -  a god not worth praying to but worthy of worship. Obsession of christian god is Sin. God with 100 billions galaxies doesn't care who you sleep with! Sins of non-existent Adam. Original Sin born in sin. Not very moral. 

35:50 Own existence is most amazing! Eyes are amazing! Brought about by mechanical processes. 

38:20 Design v Evolution Before Darwin, argument for design is fallacious. Gaps shrink - cannot resort to a designer; god requires own designer. 

40:00 - 42:00 supernatural explanation explains nothing. Peddles pseudo explanations get in way of real explanations. 

1:10:00 Arif Ahmed

No shred of evidence for beliefs of Rowan Williams. Evidence would be valid argument with true premises or empirical evidence eg pharma and planes fly. All Rs are included. 

1:16:00 Higher rates of homicide with R. Gay penalties in Uganda. 

1:19:20 Freedom of Speech - Danish cartoons

1:22:20 Douglas Murray

I'm an Atheist. Jesus & Mohammed made it up! R is dogmatic. Atheism is quiet in face of death, suffering, reconcilliation, repentance. R is not literally true - can R carry people - yes.