Re: Moderate Muslims and Catholics-Nice But Dumb?
There is another problem with Pascal's wager that is less often cited. It assumes belief is something that can be switched on and off at will.
Let's say I promised you a million dollars if you believed in dragons. Let's also say you are 100% honest, or I had a 100% fail safe way of telling if you were lying (like God does). It is +EV for you to believe in dragons. You want to believe in dragons. Unfortunately you don't, you can't, you just don't believe in them.
It is the same for an atheist. They are not an atheist because they have chosen to be one. They are not an atheist just to piss off religeous people. The are an atheist because they don't believe in God. Even if they wanted to believe in God (most don't because they realise the stupidity of it all) they couldn't, because belief is not some something you can manufacture.
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