spacejunkie

Yes. I believe so.

First of all your oversimplification of "Christ's teachings" sort of misses the point. The immorality you question does not stem from the "teachings" of Jesus. Even less relevant are your cherry picked Bible verses. On top of the various things others have already mentioned I propose that it is immoral to teach any kind of faith based knowledge as if it were fact, especially to children.

As a proud member of the human race I feel a moral obligation to help rid my species of ignorance. When reason prevails the human race prevails with it. Ignorance on the other hand has direct, indirect and usually nasty consequences.

Benevolent Smiter

As for the original post, I'm with espritch on this. Once the theist has overstepped his or her bounds and tries to impose theistic views on other people individually, or blurs or crosses the line between church and state and puts theistic beliefs into policy decisions, it becomes our responsibility to argue and debate with them that this is not to be tolerated. A residual effect of this debate and education will naturally be the realization by many people that their religion is not rational, and some will choose to deconvert from it.

If the vast majority of people who have a religious faith could keep that where it belongs, i.e. within themselves and private (allowing their children to choose their own beliefs without it being forced on them), and if those who try to impose it on others were marginalized as the kooks they are and rendered ineffective at reaching that end, we would (usually) not need to debate or argue or try to convince anyone to reassess their faith. I say usually because there are people who let belief in a faith tear at them inside and lead to self-destructive thinking and behavior. It seems to me that it's a moral imperative to try to help if one cares about the person whom it's hurting.

Unfortunately keeping religion personal and private just isn't the norm in the world. So many cultures indoctrinate their people with arbitrary religious belief systems, and we can see what kinds of wrongs this leads to every day. We need to be vigilant and try to educate as many people as we can about choosing rational and critical thinking over dogma.

Benevolent Smiter

As I said in the ETA in my post, these two are not exclusive of each other. I choose truth and joy. In some cases the truth isn't exactly joyful. But so be it. It's better to understand than try to hide it under the rug. There are plenty of other facts that bring me fascination and joy. Believing in something that has no basis or evidence in fact, like god(s), does not bring me any comfort nor happiness. Especially when the deity in question is such a vain, vengeful bastard as the god of the bible clearly is portrayed.

Disco Fingers

Total ignorance of Nuclear energy would have prevented the atomic bomb. Just a thought.

Disco Fingers

Yes, but in my hypothetical situation, I did not and will not give you that choice! I know that truth and joy are not exclusive of each other, but let's play...

Live in truth with misery, or live in ignorance and feel joy.

Which one, and why?

spacejunkie

:Cheeky:

Total ignorance of fire would have prevented...

Disco Fingers

Burger King? :wave:

TomboyMom

Interesting question. *Pauses to consider*

Benevolent Smiter

This hypothetical is not possible in the real world. Even "blissfully ignorant" people will have bad times in their lives (all people do), and educated, rational people will have joy in their lives (again all people do). I choose living with the truth and searching for knowledge over sticking my head in the sand.

spacejunkie

Exactly!

And hey, it's lunch time on this side of the pond.