Is this a good opening statement for my debate team?

Question

I'm in a team where we have to debate the question:

Is man naturally evil?

I'm on the defense side so i have to prove that man is

naturally good, despite my personal opinion.

The statement is only 30 seconds.

I was thinking of just keeping it simple and general.

Something like

We believe that man is naturally good.

But I know that is way too short, so can anyone help me expand that?

I already have my argument, questions, and closing statement, but I need help with my opening statement because I don't want to give away my entire argument in the first statement

Answer 1

Suggestion:

We are all made/created in the image of God... therefore by His design ....we must be good.  

The problem arises, with our free will, life is full of choices, both good and evil.

I wish you well in your debate.

Answer 2

You could say "Society may be quick to condemn the human race as evil, but i challenge one person to admit that they themselves are inherently bad. The evilness of humanity is a matter of conjecture and since no one is willing to claim their own evil, in the minds of our society, humanity is good. And if humanity is good in our minds, it must be good, for what other criterea can we grade on. Humans are good. Period."

Hope that helped. Good luck.

Answer 3

Yeah that would be too forward and not enough detail even for 30 seconds...try, We believe man is naturally good and has capability to keep it that way. We believe man started out naturally not knowing business and politics etc, and they naturally wanted what was best for them and their surroundings and how to take care of loved ones.

That might not be too good, but it's a start or a try at least. You can add or not use it, hope this helped and good luck with the debate.  

Answer 4

That's a toughie because deep down humanity is more primitive, ignorant, and redundant than “evil“. It's difficult to argue that all mankind is evil when in most cases an individual has been considered more evil than a group in general. I believe in the end it's those three reason is what causes an insecure feeling of fear that leads to evil. Fear is human nature and natural instincts that cause our fear and eventually evil. So can we really be blame for something that is naturally caused?