Atheists unite and help persuade

[chimp3]

The importance of doubt can not be understated. So much of what religion is falls away when a person views a religious claim and thinks "I doubt it". Doubt is a healthy approach to life.

[Ambiguous Atheist]

Thanks everyone for the feedback!

I'm gonna take an epistemology approach for this speech. Since my audience is a small group of junior/senior college students in an upper division course that has given speeches on very liberal/nonconservative views it wouldn't be right to group them with the older ideals/practices of Christianity. Most have been raised to be Christian while a few have come out and stated that they transitioned from one sect to a different sect of Christianity in college.

Focusing on epistemology, logical fallacies, and how you can be taken advantage of in the real world both in their professional and personal life if a degree of skepticism isn't applied seems best for the given situation.

[Macoleco]

Tell them atheism is freedom. And tell them more people will suffer if religion continues to exist.

[Ambiguous Atheist]

Tell them atheism is freedom. And tell them more people will suffer if religion continues to exist.

My thought exactly. I was gonna end the speech with having free Sundays, not worried about a false hell, etc.

Then bring up links to atheist communities both online and irl.

[AceBoogie]

I'm currently in a communication class and the last type of speech we have to do is a persuasion speech. I was originally going to do the topic on why we need a separation of church and state in texas and what organizations to get involved with to help the cause. However, one student persuaded me with their speech to change my topic. He gave a speech on why he believed in a god and why everyone else should too. I took notes on his speech and will try and post it up in a different subforum more appropriate for that topic. After his speech, I was so angry at the inconsistencies and logical fallacies he gave to the class. He made special pleading, gave loaded questions without answers, misquoted atheist texts, brought up pascal while ignoring pascals wager, appealed to false authority, appealed to nature, etc. 

I now want to write a speech talking about how people should look into atheism. For theists, I would say it would be strengthening their faith to go out and talk with atheist communities. For those who are spiritual or questioning their religion, learning about atheism and finding the community would be a great way to broaden their understanding of the world around them and meet people of different world views. These are all college students. I feel that anyone that would reject the proposal is saying that they want to stay close minded. 

There's a big problem with my speech. I keep taking a biased approach and my points seem to attack others beliefs rather than showing them what other (lack of) beliefs hold. For example, I was going to use John Oliver's speech about religion in schools, seeding into the church, televangelists, etc. I thought about bringing up catholic priest pedophiles, and the hate messages preachers like John Hagee gives. 

I also need to use Monroe's motivational sequence. 

• Step One: Get Attention. Get the attention of your audience. ...
  
  
• Step Two: Establish the Need. Convince your audience there's a problem. ...
  
  
• Step Three: Satisfy the Need. Introduce your solution. ...
  
  
• Step Four: Visualize the Future. Describe what the situation will look like if the audience does nothing.
  

so... what points can be made that are not biased or attacking that are persuasive enough to persuade an audience to look into atheism?

1: Say something like, "God is dead" or "Religion is dangerous."
2: Discuss the indoctrination that Christian children have to endure. Talk about the lack of separation of church and state in the US and how there are still states where openly Atheist politicians are not eligible for elections into certain offices. Discuss the abuse in the Catholic church and others (I recently read a story in the paper where a Baptist pastor was given probation by a judge for molesting a 12 year old girl.) You could even mention specific Bible verses that promote slavery, abuse and war. Talk about how every religion in the world claims to have the answer... yet there are what? Hundreds, if not thousands of religions that exist? How do they all have the answer?
3: This is where you can address the separation of church and state like you wanted to in your original speech. Talk about taking religious education out of public schools and discuss teaching children how to be skeptical and think for themselves instead of just following the leader or memorizing facts to pass the test. Talk about how people need to answer the question of god for themselves and should not look to any authority figure to do so.
4: Help them visualize a world where religion rules politics and how that can trickle down into every aspect of our lives. Talk about how there is a very real, very active group of people out there who honestly want Christianity to be the only religion in the USA. Help them visualize a world where ISIS rules all. Where Sharia law is the law of the land.

I wouldn't worry to much about seeming like you're attacking Christianity. People are going to think that anyway the moment you criticize any religion. Atheism, or a lack of belief in a god or gods, comes from raising these points and discussing these topics with other people. Atheism is also borne from self reflection and introspection.