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I lookes for a thread on this topic, and couldn't find one, so here it goes:
I was just wondering if I was the only one who thinks that most aligned spells should actually lose their alignment descriptor? Personally, I don’t like them because of the arguments that spring from them.
The classic example is animate dead. It has the [Evil] descriptor. Personally I don’t think it should have an alignment descriptor. In my view it’s no more evil than animate object (which, oddly enough, isn’t on the wizard spell list, but that’s another rant.)
A lot of people argue that, having the [Evil] descriptor, casting the spell is an evil act and will turn the caster evil with enough castings. Personally I think that that argument sounds about as silly as saying Fireball, having the [Fire] descriptor, will turn the caster into fire.
There are other examples of spells that shouldn’t have the alignment descriptor that they have, or just shouldn’t have an alignment descriptor at all.
This debate has been revisited countless times.
The important thing with Animate Dead is that reviving a corpse of the rightfully departed into a hideous mockery of life is fundamentally different from making your footstool fetch itself.
It's also good that the [Evil] descriptor means that Good Clerics can't cast it.
As far as an [Evil] spell altering alignment, that differs by DM. Casting an [Evil] spell is an Evil act, which is relevant to Clerics and Paladins who multiclass into other casting classes. Does committing an Evil act make you Evil? Maybe. Mostly, though, Good people shouldn't WANT to commit Evil acts, or at the very least should feel badly about doing it.
In short, casting Animate Dead 57 times doesn't really make a Neutral Good Wizard turn Neutral Evil: Instead, it suggests that his alignment ought to have been Evil in the first place. A Good person wouldn't do it in the first place.
A wizard asking 'How many times can I cast an [Evil] spell before turning Evil?' is like a rogue asking 'How many times can I steal from orphans before turning Evil?'