Is purposeless torture moral?

Is purposeless torture moral?Most governments seem to believe that torture is an immoral and evil thing and most do not have what we would call a torture chambers. Let’s ignore Guantanamo Bay and other exceptions please.Religions do not seem to agree with this because religions promise a place of torture for evil souls and some believers will even drop a church that preaches that there is no hell. It seems that some believers want badly that there be this place of purposeless torture.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lv_rmQuagpYhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=baGwwma5VZo&feature=relmfuHell is a place of purposeless torture and pain. It is used purely for revenge retribution and cruelty.Some say we choose hell and some think that God, as our judge, sentences us to it. Some think it is eternal while some think that it and its occupants are eventually dumped into a lake of fire and destroyed. A long period of torture to some and a short term of torture to others.From a moral standpoint, to even create such a place would not be moral.Is it moral for God to use or let others choose to use his torture chamber called hell or the lake of fire?Regards
DL

Thread copied here from the Is purposeless torture moral? thread in the Proposed New Topics forum.

Did you claim that hell "is used purely for revenge retribution and cruelty"?If so, then even under your idea of what hell is, there is a purpose.

If it is moral or not is not relevant to whether it has a purpose or not. I'd say a place of eternal torment isn't moral, but it also isn't purposeless.

Morality doesn't really enter into this - or at least - not what ordinary humans call morality.Those that believe that their god is capable of condemning anyone to everlasting torment simply because they don't believe in him also believe that morality is what god says it is, not what we think it is.

Depends on your view of what is moral or not.Most of us find things like torture immoral but in medieval times it was an excepted fact of life because you cant be sure a peasant is lying to you or not so you put him on the rack till he tells you the truth, you also cant be sure if someone is a witch conspiring with Satan until you torture them for a while right??As civilizations evolve so does their concept of what is morally right or wrong.Some examples:during the Roman empire it was completely moral to own slaves and let them fight to the death in an arena for your pleasure.In medieval times it was not only moral but a knights god given duty to terrorise peasants.Not even so long ago in America it was completely moral for a husband to beat his wife if he does not use a stick thicker then his thumb (its where the expression rule of thumb comes from).It is still perfectly moral in Muslim extremist countries to, beat ones wife, to stone someone who has been raped for being an adulterer, to stone someone who draws a picture of Mohamed ....As a civilization evolves to a certain point archaic beliefs like hell, or killing a child that is disrespectful to ones father, owning women, .... and many more examples from the bible suddenly become immoral. Most religions adapt, or their believers adapt and ignore the texts that point to such immoral acts others die out because they cannot function in "normal" society.

Does torture ever have a purpose?There's never either time or occasion for such behavior.

I beg to differ.There are quite a few characters from our history that I'd like to stick a red hot poker up their asses.

Does the end justify the means?Sometimes.Morality is flexible.Edited by ringo, : Fixed quote.

And what good would that do you?

Who said anything about good?

The God that invented Peace, Mercy, Love, and Forgiveness would not torture. If He did, then He isn't worthy of my worship; He's just another petty and cruel fixture like Wodin, Baal, etc.But the God that invented the Duckbilled Platypus, the Practical Joke, and the Bonobos, that God is my God, and He loves both me and my athiest little brother.I find torture reprehensible. The God that invented Love, I'm sure He finds it infinitely more so.

You saying people like hitler and stalin are sitting comfortably somewhere?

Are you saying that all atheists are like Stalin and Hitler? Most of the atheists I know are actually pretty good folk.

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You saying people like hitler and stalin are sitting comfortably somewhere?

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Nope, never said that.But that you would ask that question implies that you thought I might say such a thing.My point was that I do not believe that a Loving Creator would ever sanction torture. If I led you to think that He might sanction it under any circumstance, then that was a failure on my part and certainly not intended.May I ask why you would think that I would sanction such an exception?Edited by Great.Cthulhu, : relearning basic HTML