(July 7, 2015 at 3:41 pm)robvalue Wrote: Well, there is a danger in continuing with one religion, and that is that it may be the wrong one. Unfortunately there's absolutely no way to tell which is right, if any, so not much to do there. Ultimately Pascal's Wager demonstrates there's a zero chance that anyone is right, given infinite possibilities. At least you admit you would probably be a Jew if born to Jews. How this doesn't bother people more though, I can't understand! ...
Yes, I don't understand that either, why people are not worried about picking the right one. It bothered me when I was a Christian. I wanted to make sure I got things right, as I did not want to go to hell (if there is such a place). Almost all popular religions condemn the believers of other religions, and just going along with what one happens to be born into is not likely to get one the correct religion.
Also, the idea that you should not question things, which is very common among religions, made no sense to me. Not, that is, for a true religion. It makes perfect sense that false religions would have that as a rule, because otherwise you may discover that the false religion is false. But you can never prove that a true religion is false, so there should be no problem with questioning and examining a religion that is true.
I do, however, disagree with your claim that "Unfortunately there's absolutely no way to tell which is right, if any, so not much to do there." Any religion that is self-contradictory must be false. Any religion that contradicts any fact that can be known must be false. Any religion that contains incoherent gibberish cannot be true. Start applying these ideas to particular religions, and you weed out quite a few very quickly.
"A wise man ... proportions his belief to the evidence."
— David Hume, An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding, Section X, Part I.
