Well, I was hoping to be able to say something new, but alas, I agree with everyone else, who have already agreed with each other.
While the Silmarillion is a wonderful book (I like it at least as much as LotR), Lord of the Rings is the better one to read first. As you have probably seen on various threads in this section, the Silm does not start getting interesting until several chapters in, so many readers quit before they get anywhere near the good part because they get bored and/or have trouble with the old-fashioned words. This happened to me, but I picked it up again a few months later and was very glad I did.
However, if I had not read LotR already, I doubt I would have had the interest and will to get through that boring part. (Some people say skip the first chapter or 3 chapters or something, but I think they help you understand things later in the book.) There are a few things mentioned in LotR that you won't understand until you read the Silm, but they are not important to the plot (just characters making vague references to old legends). Also, LotR reads like most fantasy novels (but a little more mature), whereas the Silmarillion reads like an epic, such as the Iliad, or like a bizarre cross between Shakespeare and a history book. The narration doesn't really make you have a personal connection to the characters like you get from a novel, so if you want one you have to make it yourself (if that makes sense).
So I suggest that you read Lord of the Rings first. It will, hopefully, make you want to read the Silmarilion, which is important to making it through the "boring parts". If, as I did, you read the Silm several years after reading LotR, it might make you want to read LotR all over again, which is great. (The more you re-read it, the higher you'll score on the Ringer Obsession Test, after all!)
I hope I haven't made the Silmarillion sound boring. It really isn't (as proof, it has inspired some absolutely amazing fanart). Do read it, but you'll like it better if you read LotR first.
Actually, I think you should read The Hobbit first...but that's a whole different arguement and my post is way too long already.
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I went in an odd order with the books though, I went RotK, Hobbit, Two Towers, Fellowship. I'd seen the first two movies and was waiting for RotK, so I decided to read the book to see what happened. Hehe.
