Are Atheists the Most Courageous People On Earth?

Question

to blindfully go through life without the protection and guidance of God as well as risking the possibility of eternal damnation even though there is a 50/50 chance it exists deserves praise....

it exists or it doesnt. 50/50. yes/no. how old are most of u? what can it be? 75/25??? come on ppl..........

Answer 1

you would be amazed how fast they change when the bombs and bullets are heading their way or their ship is sinking.

Answer 2

well, lass, there's a thing called mathematical statistics - please take time to look into it if interested in probabilities. it's the discipline studying these. so, the odds that god exists, exactly in the way described in religious texts, is next to the probability you find gold sand in your pocket every friday. no offense. that's just considering the facts, which can be empirically verified.

so, many people keep some distance from the dogma, which significantly improves the chances. yet these still are about like finding earth twin planet in the sol system. i mean same climate, orbit, terrain etc.

i've studied the matter for many years, lass. presence or absence of the almighty will not stop you from being a good person or help others. does it take courage? sure it does. from anyone. regardless of their belief.

there is one other thing i discovered: emptiness can not be damned, either temporally or forever, either by the almighty or anyone else. emptiness remains what it is and is not. reads like quite a riddle, i know. thing is words can get you only this far.

good luck to you.
mickael

Answer 3

Er, hon, we are courageous, but you're dead wrong about most of that.

For example, you said there's a 50/50 chance that there's a such thing as eternal damnation. You pulled those odds directly out of your posterior, and I bet I know what made you say that: you think that anytime there's two possibilities and we can't prove one or the other, then the odds are 50/50. Of course if that were true, then there's a 50/50 chance that Washington DC will be destroyed by a volcanic eruption tomorrow, and a 50/50 chance that my bank account will suddenly have a billion dollars in it, and so on. Reductio ad absurdum.

In addition, you're implying that atheists are taking a risk because if there is a god, we'll suffer that eternal damnation. But in fact if there is a god, it's far more likely that believers will be the ones in trouble. Atheists have acted in a morally responsible and honest way, while the believers have not, at least with respect to the question of god's existence (for example, look at the lies about it told by Winnie and Steve below). Obviously it's FAR more likely that if there is a god, it's the believers who will be damned to hell for all of eternity, and therefore it's the believers who are taking the risk.

Now, since there isn't any evidence of a god, I wouldn't be too worried about that, but if you honestly think that there's a significant chance that gods exist, you're the one who'd better start thinking about the risk she's taking, not us. We atheists have it covered both ways already.
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"it exists or it doesnt. 50/50. yes/no. how old are most of u? what can it be? 75/25??? come on ppl.........."

LOL. Moron.

See, when you act as stupidly as you just did, and add rudeness on top of your idiocy, you sacrifice any right to expect respectful responses. You're a moron, kid, and on top of that, you're too stupid to realize that you're a moron. You completely ignored the arguments we wrote that should have made it crystal clear that just because there are two options doesn't mean that each is equally likely to occur. That shows that besides being a moron and a rude person, you're also completely narrow-minded.

Incidentally, I'm 46 years old, and have been teaching college-level statistics since I was 27. I also do statistical consulting for businesses.

Care to reconsider?

Answer 4

Your statistics are distinctly off.

You could be a small rabbit with green feet and a rotating tail that sings Dixie every five minutes. Or not. 50/50 chance. See, it doesn't work.

To calculate the odds that there is an invisible god who cannot be observed we have to look at the observability limit of modern physics. This is roughly equal to Plank's constant (give or take 2 times pi).

Hence the odds are about 1 in 10^34 that god exists, and about 1 that he does not.

Answer 5

I'm going to ignore the statistical issue and simply respond to what seems to be the underlying question. Firstly, you say that atheists are "blindfully" (I presume you mean "blindly") going through life. Well, no. Atheists have considered the options and possibilities and make a reasoned decision that since there seems to them to be no god, they will live their life on the assumption that there isn't one. What astounds me is that some religious people seem to think that only their belief in a god makes them behave properly and have an ethical stance on life. This is a weird way of seeing things, since most religious people choose an off-the-peg set of ethical precepts, while atheists, agnostics, humanists, set themselves the challenge of really getting to grips with their moral stance on everything (so do many religious people, I know). The fundamental ethical precepts of respect for life and for other human beings seem to be accepted by every human society. As for the 'protection and guidance of God', this obviously doesn't mean anything to an atheist who can't accept that there is such a thing!

If eternal damnation applies to anyone who hasn't said 'I believe', this is pretty unimpressive - I couldn't believe in a divine being who was so petty-minded. Surely, living a good life is the issue? And many atheists lead good lives, dedicated to helping fellow humans in all sorts of ways.

And one can't just 'decide' to believe - you seem to be suggesting that atheists should dishonestly pretend to believe in something they can't believe in. Hmm, if that's what your God is after....... !!!!!!!!!!

Answer 6

So are you saying that there is a 50/50 chance that the Flying Spaghetti Monster exists?

Answer 7

The chance isn't 50/50, my dear. Don't argue a False Dichotomy with people who can recognize one when they see it.

Pascal's Wager is a bunk argument. It's been roundly refuted by a myriad of scholars AND by a myriad of participants in this section.

It would be best not to use it.

[[edit]] The PROBABILITY that the Abrahamic, Judeo-Christian, Biblical deity Yahweh exists is not 50/50... and besides, the possibility that THIS is the god that must be worshiped and praised in order to attain a pleasant afterlife is far from 50/50.

Answer 8

After careful consideration, I have decided to award your 'God either does or doesn't, so it's 50:50' hypothesis a Lifetime Achievement Award in the field of dumb thinking.

Well done. You are now a legend, and your story will be repeated endlessly, wherever atheists converse.

CD

Answer 9

The Judeo-Christian god is the one that presents us with eternal damnation--so in this juvenille version of PASCALS WAGER--what if the moslems were right--what if the allah is the one true god--doesn't that make you also the most courageous group on earth- --you are facing the possibility of eternal damnation. Shouldn't you go to a mosque and convert quickly just in case--carry a sort of dual citizenship in oth religions?

Answer 10

Is there also a 50/50 chance for the existence of unicorns, or leprechauns, or Zeus?

Answer 11

And just where did you get those statistics from?

So you also believe that there is a 50/50 chance of Odin existing?
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