Jesus protect me from your followers, Volume 162

I was lurking at a debate website where a Christian and a skeptic were arguing about the Isrealite's slaughter of the Amalekites. After defeating the Amalekites, the Isrealites massacred the Amalekites' babies. According to the biblical account, all of this was ordered and sanctioned by God.

The justification put forward for this by the Christian was:

Who would raise those young children with all the adults dead? The Israelites? How would those non-Israelite children have been treated by the Jews? A lifetime of second class citizenship, then when they grow into adulthood, it would be, "I don't get mad, I get even."

Not to mention the massive drain it would have put on Israel's resources to suddenly increase their population by several thousand. It's not like they could have run to the local Wal-Mart to stock up on baby formula.

This is when you know that a person has taken leave of their senses. The suggestion is that upon orphaning children in a war, the most prudent and moral step that can be taken by the victor is to slaughter the children.

Sam Harris was right on when he said:

One of the greatest challenges facing civilization in the 21st century is for human beings to learn to speak about their deepest personal concerns--about ethics, spiritual experience and the inevitability of human suffering--in ways that are not flagrantly irrational. Nothing stands in the way of this project more than the respect we accord religious faith.