Atheist version of Pascal's wager

[athrock]

This is part of an article which appears to have evaporated, but I took the precaution of saving it to my "I'm sure I'll find a use for this one day" file:

I'm not sure why you bothered. It's pretty stupid. Let's go through it (at least until I get bored).

The flaws

Did the author also provide a list of The Strengths? Just curious. Seems like anyone being objective could find a few positives.

The most obvious problems with Pascal’s Wager are:

• How do you know which god to believe in?  There are plenty to choose from, and if you pick the wrong one, you could be in big trouble (e.g. what if you choose Jesus, but get to heaven only to come face-to-trunk with Ganesh?).  This is known as the ‘Avoiding the wrong Hell problem.’  If a dozen people of different religions came to you with Pascal’s Wager, how could you possibly choose between them?  After all, many religions are quite specific that they are the One True Religion, and not any others.  Jesus Christ is supposed to have said, “I am the way, the truth and the light.  None shall come to the Father except through me.”  [emphasis added] and no doubt most other religions make similar claims.  If a Christian considers the Wager as strong support for his faith, surely he must accept that it is equally valid for all other religions when presented to himself?

Well, this is pretty much crap and betrays the ignorance of its author.

Yes, Pascal's Wager IS valid for all other religions. BIG. FREAKIN'. WHOOP.

It is a common misunderstanding that PW is a stand-alone apologetic for Christianity. It isn't. It is a way of reasoning about a situation in which someone is undecided about which direction to take after having considered the OTHER Christian apologetics. So, yes, a person still has to have done his or her homework about Jesus v. Ganesh, and that's what apologetics is all about. PW is not that.

Heh...if the author considers this an "obvious problem" with PW, then I counter that the real "obvious problem" is with the author's understanding of what PW is all about. 

• God is surely not stupid.  Won’t it know that you’re just trying to get a free ride into Heaven?  How can you sincerely believe in a god simply out of convenience?

First, the ONLY ride to heaven is a free ride, bro, 'cause somebody else already paid the price for you. That's kinda the whole point of the cross.

Second, the idea is that once you begin to think and act like a believer (based on PW), it becomes easier to believe as a believer. IOW, there is round one and round two...or a second level of belief that is reached later. The author assumes that the believer stays stuck at level one, and here we might agree; God will not be mocked by anyone playing at Christianity.

• If there is no God, you have still lost something.  You have wasted a good portion of your life performing the various devotional rituals, attending Churches, praying, reading scripture and discussing your deity with His other followers.  Not to mention giving your hard-earned money to the church, wasting your intelligence on theological endeavours and boring the hell out of people who really don’t want to hear your Good News.

Sorry, sport. I'm not buying any of this tripe. Non-believers pay big money to learn Yoga and other meditation techniques in order to find peace and harmony. Christians achieve peace through prayer and scripture. You're into Zen, I'm into Jesus. We'll call that even. So, that's not a waste of a "good portion" of time, is it? Next, atheists love to harp on how they can care for others, make their lives meaningful and so on without God. Great. You work with the Boy Scouts; I work at a soup kitchen. Sorry, but giving of our time, talent and treasure to others is the same whether you're doing it for the Democratic National Committee or First Baptist. You make your life meaningful your way; I'll do it mine. But that doesn't make mine any less important or valid than yours. You're oh-for-two here.

• Can you get away with just sort of generally believing in a Supreme Being, without specifically believing in one particular Deity?  Probably not - God will still know what you’re up to.  Also, many gods are quite particular about how they should be worshipped.  Many born-again Christians will tell you that the only way to Heaven is through accepting Jesus Christ as your personal saviour - nothing more and nothing less.  General-Deity-Belief and being nice simply won’t do.  Many people believe that all the different religions are merely alternative routes to the same destination.  Nice and tolerant (if a little warm ‘n’ fuzzy) though this may be, there is no valid reason to accept this stance over the fire-and-brimstone fundamentalist position: if the fundies are right, then the un-Saved liberal theists are in just as much trouble as the nonbelievers.

Oh, you're basing this crap on the erroneous soteriology of Christian fundamentalists. What a pity that your theological foundations are not set upon a more solid rock (Petros).

That ought to be enough to demonstrate the flaws in this article, and I'm bored now.

Poor rob...he really, really believes that this is a "comprehensive takedown" of Pascal's Wager. Sadly, he's probably not alone in this mistaken opinion.