Oh, look what I've been missing out... another Pascal's Wager thread!
Oh the fun to be had!!!
**skipping around**
ok, now, seriously... I haven't read the whole thread as I assume it would be an exercise in futility.... as will the next sentences that I'm going to type, but heck... It's lunch hour break.
As long as we're talking about chances of getting it wrong, we might as well take out old M$ excel (or any other spreadsheet program) and, on the first line, write out ALL the religions, cults and beliefs concerning the afterlife that mankind has ever upheld and will ever uphold, one of these per column.... let's put atheism on the second column. This line represents the belief a person has
Then, on the first column, write them all again. This column represents reality.
Now, cross reference them: If you adhere to atheism, then nothing happens if atheism is the reality. But something nasty happens if any of the others are reality, you put a minus sign.
If you adhere to catholicism, then nothing happens if atheism is the reality, but you get a plus sign if the catholic belief is real, but get a minus for every other.
And keep going for all columns.
In the end, you're left with equal number of minuses for every religion, cult, or belief.... And atheism only gets one extra minus... in relative terms, it's almost irrelevant.
So, which religion, cult or belief should I choose? What's the criteria?
Now look at it from the other angle: if atheism turns out to be the real deal, then nothing happens to anyone, regardless of belief. If any other belief system happens to be real, then the majority of the people on the planet get something nasty.
Why should I uphold the virtues of any divinity, knowing that it brings harm to other people?
Oh the fun to be had!!!
**skipping around**
ok, now, seriously... I haven't read the whole thread as I assume it would be an exercise in futility.... as will the next sentences that I'm going to type, but heck... It's lunch hour break.
As long as we're talking about chances of getting it wrong, we might as well take out old M$ excel (or any other spreadsheet program) and, on the first line, write out ALL the religions, cults and beliefs concerning the afterlife that mankind has ever upheld and will ever uphold, one of these per column.... let's put atheism on the second column. This line represents the belief a person has
Then, on the first column, write them all again. This column represents reality.
Now, cross reference them: If you adhere to atheism, then nothing happens if atheism is the reality. But something nasty happens if any of the others are reality, you put a minus sign.
If you adhere to catholicism, then nothing happens if atheism is the reality, but you get a plus sign if the catholic belief is real, but get a minus for every other.
And keep going for all columns.
In the end, you're left with equal number of minuses for every religion, cult, or belief.... And atheism only gets one extra minus... in relative terms, it's almost irrelevant.
So, which religion, cult or belief should I choose? What's the criteria?
Now look at it from the other angle: if atheism turns out to be the real deal, then nothing happens to anyone, regardless of belief. If any other belief system happens to be real, then the majority of the people on the planet get something nasty.
Why should I uphold the virtues of any divinity, knowing that it brings harm to other people?
