2007-11-12 12:26:44 · 16 answers · asked by MC 3 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
A pagan last won the powerball...
2007-11-12 12:30:29 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 3⤊ 0⤋
A few years ago I won $1000.00 from a lottery scratch ticket given to me as a birthday present..
Nope I didn't suddenly become religious and thank a deity, I thanked the person who had given me the ticket and offered to give it back or split 50/50 with them.. They laughed refused and congratulated me on my winnings..
Atheists have as much chance as anyone else of winning the lottery which is 1 in several million...
Not sure if you would get a soundbite on the news though... Things like "Wow, I won with those odds." doesn't play as well as a person falling to their knees crying and praising a fictional deity...
2007-11-12 20:44:31 · answer #2 · answered by Diane (PFLAG) 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Probably. There are lots more atheists out there than you'd care to know. Conservative estimates put us at 10% of the American population. We're probably closer to about 20% or 25% if you count agnostics and followers of philosophies that do not include gods (Buddhists, Taoists, etc.)
If you look at lotteries in other countries, where "out" atheist populations are much, much larger, such as the Scandinavian countries, Iceland, and Canada, the answer is "almost certainly."
Why? Are you implying that God would give a rip about money? Why on earth would God care about whether one of his followers got rich with no work? What does that matter in the grand scheme of things? And doesn't Jesus preach giving away all your worldly possessions in order to truly understand his teachings? Why would God bother to answer somebody's prayer to win the lottery, but wouldn't answer a parent's prayer to cure their child of leukemia? Is God that shallow?
2007-11-12 20:32:32 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
I've won $42, does that count?
Statistically, chances are good, but since that's not a question most newspeople ask, we don't nw. There are plenty of rich atheists though, including Bill Gates - better than the lottery!
2007-11-12 20:38:12 · answer #4 · answered by Brent Y 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
I wouldn't know. I've never seen the statistics compiled by a religious slant. What about the fact that something like 80% of lottery winners are broke 5 years latter?
2007-11-12 20:30:45 · answer #5 · answered by punch 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Yes, when I was finally free from christianity. I danced in the streets. What a winner I became. I could stop hating myself and feeling unworthy to live except by church terms. Yahoo!
Happiness was - Freedom of mind. No money in the world can or would give me what that was worth.
2007-11-12 20:40:19 · answer #6 · answered by Tricia R 5 · 2⤊ 0⤋
A Wicca practitioner won the last one. Last I heard he was building a school for witches... Must be a Harry Potter fan.
2007-11-12 20:31:05 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
being a minority and based on the fact that not all of us play the lottery, i'd say the chance is really really slim.
2007-11-12 20:40:16 · answer #8 · answered by ʌ_ʍ ʍr.smile 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
All of them. I thought Christians weren't supposed to gamble.
2007-11-12 20:32:32 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
No, but God doesn't play dice with the universe!
2007-11-12 20:29:28 · answer #10 · answered by Brendan G 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋