Why not believe in God anyway, just to be safe?
This is known as Pascal's Wager, and has been thoroughly debunked ever since Blaise Pascal introduced it. Rationalwiki has an excellent page on the topic, as does Iron Chariots, but we'll go over some highlights.
Which god? This assumption is a specific example of the logical fallacy of false dilemma. Humanity has worshiped between twenty-seven hundred and three thousand different gods since the beginning of recorded history, and those are just the ones we know about. The gods that could exist that we don't know are practically infinite. Pascal himself acknowledged the weakness of this assumption, and later explained he was only speaking in terms of the Christian religion.
Assuming we somehow manage to choose the right god, how do we know we're worshiping that god in the correct way? There are many different sects within Hinduism, Islam, Judaism and Christianity. Christianity in particular has over forty-one thousand different denominations. Assuming that this god cares about being worshiped at all, how do we know we're worshiping it as it demands? If the Calvinists are correct it doesn't matter how you worship him, your salvation is preordained whether or not you believe. If the Catholics are right salvation is only possible through rituals like communion and the last rites. If the Baptists are correct then only deliberate submission through prayer begging for salvation will do the trick. They can't all be correct.
Assuming that we have the right god and are worshiping in the manner that god requires, why would this god accept a lie? No one can force themselves to believe something they don't genuinely think is true. Try forcing yourself to honestly believe that gravity is a myth and that you can float off your seat any time you wish. Simply claiming belief isn't the same as believing. If this god is willing to accept such a lie, how does that make it worthy of worship? If it's capable of being lied to, how does it qualify as a god at all?
By the same logic one should believe in vampires to guard against getting bitten one day. It is irrational to believe something based on fear. Pascal's Wager is an appeal to emotion and says nothing about the validity of the claim.
Pascal's wager assumes that if there is a real god it rewards faith and punishes skepticism. There is no way of knowing if skepticism is the virtue being rewarded and that God does not punish faith and irrationality.
Religion takes away time and effort as well as money. If the chances of any gods are exceedingly low, you have wasted your life. Atheism has a lack of religious restrictions, so in a sense atheists are being rewarded. Atheism is the intellectually honest approach to the topic. It doesn't require you to adhere to atheism if we find we were wrong all along.
Still not convinced? Try putting the shoe on the other foot. Read Nuke's Wager and see how it works for you.
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This almost feels like an exercise in pointing out how ridiculous it is in the first place, not just in the "worship anyway" scenario.
Agreed..And I'm not going to worship anything that would create such a place as hell anyway, and forgive people who have done terrible things, like murder,rape and child abuse. But said creator won't forgive me, a person who has not done those terrible things. Makes no sense.
I always find this quote from Tracie Harris highly appropriate:
Agreed. And yet I see believers (Christians and Muslims alike) constantly asking questions that ultimately end up being a rephrasing of Pascal's Wager. So I make a point of showing how easy it is to refute.
In the age of technological advancements being made on an hourly basis, the internet to communicate them, and the world of science that is ever more committed in helping us understand our surroundings... Religions these days are having a hard time keeping people engaged when there is an infinitely more interesting world out there one can engage in. I feel bad for those who hold back.
There are lots of reasons why people believe, most of them a priori assumptions taught to them as axiomatic principles. When you grow up hearing that there's a god watching over you, you just assume that everyone believes it by default. There's a growing body of research also demonstrating a link between the triple threat of poverty, income disparity and poor education with religious devotion. I'm pretty sure I published a snap or two on the topic already.
You wear a seatbelt "just in case", but it's a little different because you've seen those movies where people get thrown from the car, etc. Have you ever seen someone actually go to hell?
Of course not. Just near death experience testimonies of people "dying" and going to heaven or hell briefly. Curious how such experiences always seem to follow cultural trends. Buddhists never experience the afterlife of the Abrahamic religions, and Christians never visit the Hindu afterlife. It's almost like near death experiences cause the brain to panic and flood the body with hormones inducing a hallucinogenic experience to cushion the shock.
Wait a second, I've seen movies where people get thrown from their car, but I've also seen movies where people go to hell too. (What Dreams May Come) This argument seems either misplaced, or missing some important words to differentiate safety danger from afterlife danger.
When I was creating this comment, I was thinking about the "movies" they showed us in high school to scare us into wearing seatbelts, driving safely, etc. when I realized how old I am and maybe they don't show those anymore. "Movie" was probably the wrong word, but as it was pointed out, I wasn't referring to fiction. Think more like liveleak.
Yea after the other reply I realized your intention. I was picturing more just like.. "Crash" or any other car chase scene that ends up with someone flying through a windshield. Also, it's been quite a while since I sat in a HS classroom, so that those type of safety movies weren't even in consideration.
I doubt /u/baren was referring to fictional movies. We see news about that sort of thing happening all the time, it's happening within our reality and not within a fictional universe. Sometimes when I watch a good, truly engaging movie that has to do with the topic of heaven/afterlife it's nice to suspend belief for a little while and go along with it (it's probably the closest my mind will get to imagining a universe where I can live-on after my death). But as soon as the movie is over, reality kicks in and that suspended belief becomes nothing but a temporary escape into a fictional universe.