I had figured that moving this out of the CI Lounge (where it was both off-topic and obviously going to be inflammatory) would also be a clue to "tone it down", but I guess that message didn't get through.

I'm not fond of curtailing discussion, but these religious threads NEVER go anywhere good, and result in nothing but a lot of bad feelings between all involved.

If you're that motivated on the topic, there are plenty of actual religious forums out there.