Cop Out

[LWP17]

A couple of weeks ago I was watching a show on TV (wish I could remember what it was) and a guy was giving a speech. In the speech he said that he feels a lot of religious people only believe in religion as a cop out so that if there is an afterlife and they chose correctly then they will be safe for eternity.

Said person said that he didn't believe and wouldn't claim something that he didn't truly feel just so he could have a shot at being safe "in the afterlife".

What do you guys think about this? Do you believe that a lot of people use religion as a cop out?

[Lethe]

Undoubtedly referring to the infamous Pascal's Wager. Religion can and is used as a cop out, but more so to elude personal responsibility and satisfy one's desire for knowledge and understanding without working to do so.

[Minimalist]

I've posted this quote elsewhere but I won't make you go looking for it. Best summation of religion for the majority of people that I've yet seen.

If we had opened our eyes to the light under the shadows
of St. Peter's at Rome, we should have been devout Catholics; born in the
Jewish quarter of Aleppo, we should have contemned Christ as an
imposter; in Constantinople, we should have cried "Allah il Allah, God is
great and Mahomet is his prophet!" Birth, place, and education give us our
faith. Few believe in any religion because they have examined the
evidences of its authenticity, and made up a formal judgment, upon
weighing the testimony. Not one man in ten thousand knows anything
about the proofs of his faith. We believe what we are taught; and those are
most fanatical who know least of the evidences on which their creed is
based.

--Brig. Gen Albert Pike, C.S.A.

[DeistPaladin]

[LWP17]

I've heard of the name for it before but I couldn't remember it for anything. Thanks!

[HigherLvlofThinking]

Whats troubles me is i dont know why some pople really THAT afriad of dying i mean i dont wanna die and have to leabe everyone i love behind but i mean its a natrual cause and its gonna happen weather we are good and bad?

[LWP17]

Whats troubles me is i dont know why some pople really THAT afriad of dying i mean i dont wanna die and have to leabe everyone i love behind but i mean its a natrual cause and its gonna happen weather we are good and bad?

Yeah, I agree. It's going to happen but that shouldn't be a reason to believe in something you truly don't feel.

[theVOID]

Pascals wager is easily refuted by parallel argument

1. There could exist a trickster God
2. This trickster god values logic and reason to establish trickery, he has left no means by which anyone could logically conclude that a god exists.
3. He punishes people who come to illogical conclusions about god. All else go to heaven.
4. The only logical conclusion is that there is no epistemic justification for belief in the existence of god.
5. Therefore, those who believe in God go to hell and those who do not go to heaven.

[LWP17]

That might be the coolest argument ever. Wouldn't that be ironic?

[theVOID]

Thanks I can't claim credit for the idea but the form is mine.

I have a fetish for refutation by parallel i think... when someone makes an assertion with no criteria for verification there is nothing to stop you making a similar assertion and turning their whole argument into a parody.