Some dimwit called Philly R said atheists loathe "pascals wager"?

Question

I don't understand where he came up with this.
Did he make it up out just to make himself feel superior to atheists? Does a lie make him feel just as righteous as a truth?
Is he trying to fool other christians into thinking he's knowledgeable? DO other christians consider him knowledgeable?
If one believes in god "just to be safe", what does that imply about his strength of character?
Is philly a christian?

Answer 1

Maybe it's just ignorance and he picked out some random interpretation from The God Delusion.

Answer 2

I'm an atheist and I loathe Pascal's wager. I think it's stupid logic that idiots use to try to threaten people into believing. And, did I mention stupid? Honestly. "Just to be safe?" Like 1) god, if such a thing ever existed, is going to buy the sincerity in a worshiper who really doesn't believe, but does the church thing; 2) that being a model Christian while alive "just in case" is a harmless kind of activity. You'd think a guy like Pascal would have taken the examples of Galileo, Da Vinci, Kepler, et al. v. the church to heart; and 3) by the same logic, we'd have to join up with every religion that came down the pike because you just never know and it's better to be safe than sorry.

Though, Philly probably came up with it because there's a Pascal's Wager drinking game here at R&S. Apparently some Christians think Pascal's Wager is a good method to getting atheists to convert. It's uber-annoying because they don't put any real thought into it's transparently useless logic.

Answer 3

Oddly enough, the last time I saw anyone write anything about Pascal's Wager, it was a mathmatician trying to prove global warming by implying that all the skeptics had puny little minds and were not able to comprehend the big numbers that are associated with the 'science' of global warming.

It seems like everyone I hear about anymore that uses Pascal's Wager as 'proof' of anything seems to be a pompous, egotistical @**. Maybe I'm just seeing all the wrong articles and comments...

Answer 4

Many atheists do loathe Pascal's wager, not because it makes belief logical but because they just get sick of hearing about it. Some Christians think that if an atheist doesn't want to debate the question every single time it's raised it means Christianity "wins". Personally I am an honest agnostic and I think God appreciates that more than professing a faith I'm not sure about to hedge my bets.

Answer 5

I don't particularly care about Pascal's Wager either way.

It is interesting but the same form of arguement can be used for just about anything.

There are quite a few refutations for it as well, including which god(s) to believe in? Would Pascal (an avid gambler) be more keen to hedge his bets and believing in every god in 2007 when it's more accepted to have stupid views? Surely believing in every god would break a few commandments (or equivalent)... wouldn't it really be safer just to be a good atheist or agnostic so as not to piss any of the gods off?

Of course Pascal's Wager isn't a proof of god actually existing like quite a few people seem to think. It is merely a proof of why it might be beneficial to believe it.

Answer 6

Not speaking for others here. I don't believe in God
and I do loathe Pascal's Wager. It is an especially useless argument. The refutation of it is even older than Blaise Pascal's formulation of it.
I think the only thing Pascal's wager shows is the mental poverty of those who use it.

Answer 7

No. the difficulty with Pascal's guess is that he assumed that there replaced into merely one conceivable god (ie the Judeo/Christian god). He did no longer ingredient in all the gods and religions that have ever been worshipped, by fact he already held the basis that the Christian god replaced into the single genuine god. He additionally held the basis that the single genuine god could reward believers with an afterlife. The guess fails if there's a style of gods/religions. If there is even the likeliest possbility of the existence of different deities, you may ought to ingredient in the potential for being punished for worshipping the incorrect god, or in the incorrect way, to no longer point out the possibility which you would be able to waste your finished existence worshipping the incorrect god in the incorrect way. The guess is a pretend dilema (a everyday approach of argument utilized by skill of many religionists to on the present time) by fact there are relatively extra possibilities than the two Pascal provides us.

Answer 8

Pascal's wager does not consider that there is more than one way to believe in God and that of the hundreds of ways to believe in God only one may be right. So belief in God may have the same positive payoff as a lottery ticket.

Answer 9

I don't know any Atheists who loathe Pascal's Wager. But many do find it an illogical line of thought.

Pascal's Wager says we have nothing to lose, but everything to gain, should we believe in God.

How do we know what God or Gods we need to be believing in. I certainly do not have the time or money to worship every single one "just in case".

Answer 10

Good theologians loathe Pascal's Wager, too. It is an intellectually bankrupt argument that is wholly countered.