Prove the bible is unnecessary, atheist / Prove it is necessary, theists

[MusicLovingAtheist]

I was just talking to my younger brother about the necessity of the bible. He says that it is the one thing in the world that is useful for combating "degeneracy". I pressed him on that, saying that homosexuals aren't degenerates. He said "The bible doesn't condemn homosexuality. People who aren't religious aren't against them for being homosexual, they're against them for what they do. What homosexuals really want is exclusive rights, not equal rights (same with feminists)." I told him they absolutely are against gays simply because they are gay and I told him to look up Leviticus where it says something like "if a man should sleep with another man he should be stoned". He said "it was probably the Hebrew bible". My brother seems like an antisemitic sometimes. He said something like "Why do Jews get to have their own term for people who are against them? They want exclusive rights.". He also said "Christianity is inclusive and wants to accept everyone. Islam and Jewdaism are the dangerous ones". He didn't use the words dangerous, but he said something along those lines.

We also talked a lot about how we both don't align ourselves with politics and that the country is basically run by corporations. We both agree on feminism (that it sucks and they just want exclusive rights). Homosexuality is a matter of religious dogma and it isn't a matter of exclusive rights bullshit like the feminists. He'd disagree with that. I argued with him a bit about how the bible is not necessary and people learn their moral values from learning the consequences of their actions and people develop empathy from a very young age. He said "I don't know about that" and that atheists "can" have morals. At this point he was just telling me he wanted to get back to his video game. I pressed him for a final question. I said "why is the bible necessary". He said "I could only give you my personal interpretation of why the bible is necessary. It's different for everyone." I told him that I would just ask him that final question and I wouldn't argue with him or respond (because I know he wanted to get back to his game).

What do you think of our discussion? Could I have handled it differently? If you're an atheist why do you think the bible is unnecessary? If you're a Christian why do you think the bible is necessary? If you're any other religion why do you think your scripture is necessary? I personally think it's unnecessary because it corrupts people. They can use it as a trump card to get away with almost social issue they want, even doing drugs (one church actually got away with getting a court order to do drugs because they said the hallucinogenics helped them get in touch with god). I think all this stuff is basically on a weak foundation of faith and the notion that god exists, which is incredibly weak, because there is no evidence. Not to mention that religions might use lobbyists to get their ideas represented in the government. So really separation of Church and state is a difficult thing to uphold. I see no good coming from religion. My brother would say that it's a good thing, I see no good in religion what so ever. One might even say that religion can be used as a source of comfort. I think that without religion one can be just as comfortable without it as they are with it; a person who has never lived without religion just can't imagine what it might feel like to not believe in god (which actually they do, because a person's faith can waver like crazy in most people).