Let's play a game I just made up called PROVE ME WRONG!!
The object of the game is to shoot down as best you can a positive (no negatives allowed) assertion that has been made by one of your opponents.
You must do it in two sentences only. You cannot do it with a mere contrary assertion. You have to give a reference to back your argument up.
Eloquence, pithy clarity, pointed relevence all count for much.
Here is the format:
You first make a positive assertion of your own and place it in a box like this one:
Terry asserts: There is no meaningful difference between faith and superstition.
You follow this by your proof that the opponent of choice is wrong by doing this:
Terry asserted: THERE IS NO MEANINGFUL DIFFERENCE BETWEEN FAITH AND SUPERSTITION.
1. Superstition is fearful behavior often involving avoidance rituals (Wikipedia: Superstition is a deviation of religious feeling and of the practices this feeling imposes. It can even affect the worship we offer the true God, e.g., when one attributes an importance in some way magical to certain practices otherwise lawful or necessary. To attribute the efficacy of prayers or of sacramental signs to their mere external performance, apart from the interior dispositions that they demand is to fall into superstition.)
2. Faith is a positive conviction that good behavior connected to morality is a superior way to live.
Consequently this PROVES TERRY WRONG.
(The two numbered assertions belie the phrase (meaningful difference) and refute it.)
Okay, got it?
Below is my first real assertion:
Terry asserts: Women who read romance novels are suffering a neurosis. PROVE ME WRONG! (Source: Wikipedia:There are many different specific forms of neuroses: pyromania, obsessive-compulsive disorder, anxiety neurosis, hysteria (in which anxiety may be discharged through a physical symptom), and an endless variety of phobias. According to Dr. George Boeree, effects of neurosis can involve:
...anxiety, sadness or depression, anger, irritability, mental confusion, low sense of self-worth, etc., behavioral symptoms such as phobic avoidance, vigilance, impulsive and compulsive acts, lethargy, etc., cognitive problems such as unpleasant or disturbing thoughts, repetition of thoughts and obsession, habitual fantasizing, negativity and cynicism, etc. Interpersonally, neurosis involves dependency, aggressiveness, perfectionism, schizoid isolation, socio-culturally inappropriate behaviors, etc. [3]
Okay, that ought to get the old fire burning in rebuttal.
Remember, you can assert anything.
Have fun!