Reconsidering Atheist's Wager
In his first blog posting, Atheist's Wager discusses Blaise Pascal's Wager which was posed by the famous 17th Century mathematician and scientist to convince himself of the rationality of his faith in God. (I plan to return to this very important piece of logic in a later blog posting because it deserves a proper treatment.)
After accurately describing the Wager, the author proceeds to use the fact that one has to consider more religions in this day and age than they used to try to disprove Pascal's logic. The argument employed consists of the following:
- More religious choices are available to someone than those Pascal specifically discussed in his Wager.
- Relgion of all types is harmful because it divides humanity instead of unites it.
- Descriptions of different massacres carried out in the name of religion throughout the years are provided. These include Christians and Muslims killing one another during the Crusades, Jews conquering the Biblical Land of Canaan, Protestants, Catholics killing one another in Ireland, and Shiites and Sunnis killing one another in the Middle East.
- Citing #3 above, he states that unproved religious beliefs are responsible for having killed millions of people over the years.
- Therefore, he twists the wager to the Atheist's Wager stating that it is more moral to be atheist than theist.
| Chairman Mao (China) | 77 million |
| Stalin (Soviet Union) | 43 million |
| Hitler (National Socialist Germany) | 21 million |
| Khmer Rogue (Cambodia) | 2 million |
| Kim Jong-Il (North Korea) | 1.5 million |
| Godless' Total Murders | 144.5 million |
Many atheists would have you believe that it's a case of either choosing religion which murders people in its name or the saintly anti-religionists who just want to be left alone. Unfortunately, the above data shows that a more honest accounting of the historical record shows that the religion of godlessness causes more suffering and harm than any other system of beliefs.
Atheist's Wager continues his argument with "If God only rewards those who follow the 'correct' faith and faith is inherited from one’s parents, then the God who refuses to prove his existence is playing favorites over his creation based on tribal lines pitting groups of humans against each other just like our aliens." Here he is misguided because Christianity is open to anyone who is willing to accept Jesus Christ as his Savior regardless of his or her ethnic group or parents.
Finally, Atheist's Wager concludes with this statement: "Unless God proves his existence and changes the outcomes, we as a race owe it to ourselves to not worship Him."
On this matter, I shall let God speak for Himself:
"For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse. For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened.Professing to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures." Romans 1:18-23 (NASB)
Reference:
Wikipedia entry on Pascal's Wager:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pascal%27s_Wager
Wikipedia entry on R. J. Rummel:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rummel
Rummel's Freedom, Democracy, Peace; Power, Democide, and War:
http://www.hawaii.edu/powerkills/welcome.html
Romans Chapter 1:
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Romans%201;&version=49;
