Is Christianity a Force of Good for the World?

Hitchen vs Blair's debate on "Is Religion a Force of Good for the World?"
Christopher Hitchen
Hitchen in his arguments against the proposition of the debate posed the following rhetorical questions: Is it good for the world -
1. to appeal to our credulity and not to our skepticism?
2. to worship a deity that takes sides in wars and human affairs?
3. to appeal to our fear and to our guilt?
4. to appeal to our terror, our terror of death?
5. to preach guilt and shame about the sexual act and the sexual relationship?
6. to terrify children with the image of hell and eternal punishment, not just of themselves, but of their parents and those they love.
7. to consider women an inferior creation?
8. to insist that we are created and not evolved in the face of all the evidence?
9. to say that certain books of legend and myth are revealed not man-made code?
My answers to each of the above questions of Hitchen
1. It is perfectly rational to believe in a loving God who is the creator of the universe. There can be no evidence for or against God. The belief in a loving God is deemed right if this results in the benefits for the world.
2. A deity who takes sides in wars is a violent one and is not consistent with the nature of Christ, the loving God. Those who choose to worship such a violent God are Christians in names and not in fact.
3. Genuine Christianity that focuses on faith-in-Christ inspired good works appear to love of Him for his saving grace and does not appeal to fear or guilt.
4. The same answer as 3 above.
5. This is not part of the faith-in-Christ religion
6. Again, this is not part of the faith-in-Christ religion, since by Christ’s saving grace, there is no need to fear hell.
7. Christ, by His actions, encouraged love and respect for women and children. Women were considered inferior because of the economic and political systems at the time and nothing Christ taught implies this.
8. One can be a genuine Christian who is inspired by the faith in Christ to do good works, without being interested in the question of whether humans created or evolved or whether the earth is stationary and is the centre of the universe.
9. For those who have faith in Christ, whatever are written in the Bible that are consistent with His teaching, nature and ministry are just as true as though they were inspired by God. Those who, for any reason, believe whatever written that are inconsistent with what Christ stands for are not genuine Christians.
Tony Blair
1. It is undoubtedly true that people do acts of extraordinary common good inspired by religion..
2. A basic belief common to all faiths in serving and loving God through serving and loving your fellow human beings.
3. If faith is seen in this way, science and religion are not incompatible. Science educates us as to how the physical world is and how it functions and faiths educates us as to the purpose to which such knowledge is put, the values that should guide its use and what science and technology can do to make our lives not only materially richer but also spiritually richer.
4. A world without religious faith would be spiritually, morally, and emotionally diminished and while religious fanaticism may be gone, fanaticism may remain.
5. Do not to judge all people of religious faith by those people, any more than we would judge politics by bad politicians.

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