This house believes Christianity has been a force for good in the world."

Last night I attended a debate held by the University's debating society. The debates topic was the title of this post.

Going to this debate I wondered how this topic was to be debated. Christianity, like Judaism, does not have one single definition. The people who consider themselves Christian may only be Christian through upbringing and not through personal belief. Given this I expected the debate to struggle to answer the question.

The debate did not follow my expectations. The pro debaters opened with an attempt to describe Christianity. Their speaker used a lot of quotes from the New Testament and history found elsewhere. The against debaters opened with vicious attacks on people who were Christians. As pointed out in the debate and afterwards, they opened with cheap shots.

The second debaters for each team focused on the topic directly by defining and analyzing what "for good" meant. The pro debaters said that Christianity in its beliefs is a force for good, however, it has not always been a force of good. The against debaters stated that Christianity was a theocracy in which it is good if you are taking part in it; not a force for good, but a force for a specific good.

The closing arguments were made attempting to convince the crowd to their side. The pro debaters concluded with that Christianity really is attempting good through its foundation and practice. The speaker asked the attendees to imagine a world without Christianity. The against team closed again by taking a shot on the past of Christianity.

Both sides had their strong and weak arguments. At the end I chose to abstain. Both teams had valid points and both teams had debaters that either succeeded at staying relevant or went off track. Confidence and presentation also equaled out on both sides.

Afterwards, talking with my friends, some of us agreed that the problem with this debate was the nature of the topic itself. Without a definition of Christianity it is hard to say whether it is a force for good or evil. Also, as brought up in the debate, is it Christians who are doing the good/bad or people in general. What is the Christian influence in ones actions? Is it just that one is a follower of Christ or how he/she has been taught what Christ's teachings were?

I plan to attend more debates now as the format and topics of the debate society are captivating and challenging.