About Pascal's Wager (the "if I'm wrong, I lose nothing" argument): What if Islam--under which, Christians are idolaters for worshipping a mere prophet as God--was true? What if another sect of Christianity, labeling others as unsaved heretics, was true? What if God <a target=new class=ftalternatingbarlinklarge href="http://www.infidels.org/library/modern/richard_carrier/heaven.html">liked only those intellectually honest enough to become atheists</a>? What if, by reading this post, you've agreed to let me have ownership of your soul unless you pay me $5?
The answer, of course, is that "what ifs" and pie-in-the-sky promises, as well as vain threats of unsubstantiated faith-based doom, count for zilch. Just because I <i>might</i> find a million dollars out on the street is not a valid reason to stay there, 24/7. Doing that, one could miss out on another street where they could get rich, instead; more likely, since such riches don't just fall out of the sky, they'd wind up wasting time on a fool's errand. And just because you <i>might</i> be screwed if that wacky UFO cult turns out to be right, and actually <i>does</i> have a spaceship hiding behind a comet, is not sufficient reason to bet on it as likely. And what would it say about God, anyway, that he'd effectively prefer worship based on fear--letting into Heaven those Christians who went through the motions "just in case"--to people who thought about it for a while, and just sincerely didn't buy it?
I would also question the rather patronizing assumption that those who don't buy Christianity "don't know anything about the Bible or Jesus." From my experience, it's been the exact opposite. Those who <i>do</i> claim to be Christians seem more likely to make a mockery of everything the New Testament Jesus figure argued for, routinely ignoring his commands not to pray in public like the self-righteous hypocrites (Matthew 6:5-6), not to remarry after a divorce (Matthew 19:9), and the like.
For every bit of wishful thinking to the tune of "it helps to know my dead loved ones are in Heaven," an atheist could point out that, according to the exact same theology, were those dead loved ones non-Christians, they'd be worse off now than at any time during life. As bad as CF is, it could never compare to some of the highly creative tortures people have imagined God forever inflicting on those they disliked.
<i>"I can indeed hardly see how anyone ought to wish Christianity to be true; for if so the plain language of the text seems to show that the men who do not believe, and this would include my Father, Brother and almost all of my friends, will be everlasting punished. And this is a damnable doctrine."</i>
--Charles Darwin, in the unedited, 1958 edition of his autobiography
In all fairness, this isn't a problem with generic afterlife beliefs that don't involve sociopathic elements like Hell. Notice how very few atheists really take issue with those, except on an abstract level. But when it comes down to it, even something really appealing, like universalism (the belief that everyone will be saved in the end) is, to an atheist, just that: wishful thinking. Assuming it was wrong, would you prefer to know that? If you were in the Matrix, which colored pill would you swallow? While no one can decide that for you, there's something to be said for intellectual honesty in lieu of wishful thinking, even when you lose out on the comfort of a false belief.
"Saved" <i>is</i> pretty condescending in its implicit assumptions of the accuracy of Christian theology. The most perfect analogy I can think of is when some misguided atheists coined the term "Bright" for someone who rejected supernaturalism, instantly labelling anyone who was unconvinced of naturalism a "dim" by implication.
Thanks for the comments on those photos and the well-wishes.
Did I miss anything? <img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif" border="0">
