What is the gamble of believing in God?

The basic form of the wager goes like this: If God exists and I believe in God, I'll go to heaven, which is infinitely good. If God exists and I don't believe in God, I may go to hell, which is infinitely bad.

Why is Pascal's wager wrong?

As arguments stated above suggests, the main flaw of the logic of Pascal's wager is simplification and ignorance of the complex conditions, variety of choices, and range of repercussions of people's choices.

What is the atheists wager?

One version of the Atheist's wager suggests that since a kind and loving god would reward good deeds – and that if no gods exist, good deeds would still leave a positive legacy – one should live a good life without religion.

What is Pascal's argument for God?

Pascal — French philosopher, scientist, mathematician and probability theorist (1623-1662) — argues that if we do not know whether God exists then we should play it safe rather than risk being sorry. The argument comes in three versions (Hacking 1972), all of them employing decision theory.

What is the religion of Pascal's wager?

Pascal's wager, practical argument for belief in God formulated by French mathematician and philosopher Blaise Pascal. In his Pensées (1657–58), Pascal applied elements of game theory to show that belief in the Christian religion is rational.

PHILOSOPHY - Religion: Pascal's Wager

Why do people believe in God?

The quick and easy answer to why people are religious is that God – in whichever form you believe he/she/they take(s) – is real and people believe because they communicate with it and perceive evidence of its involvement in the world.

Can I believe in God but not go to church?

Most people who stop attending church services still believe in God, according to new research commissioned by the Church of Scotland. Many who no longer attend church choose to express their faith in new ways, said Scotland's national Church.

When did humans start believing in God?

Prehistoric evidence of religion. The exact time when humans first became religious remains unknown, however research in evolutionary archaeology shows credible evidence of religious-cum-ritualistic behavior from around the Middle Paleolithic era (45–200 thousand years ago).

What are the 5 arguments for the existence of God?

What is the wager if God exists?

The basic form of the wager goes like this: If God exists and I believe in God, I'll go to heaven, which is infinitely good. If God exists and I don't believe in God, I may go to hell, which is infinitely bad. If God does not exist, then whether I believe in God or not, whatever I'd gain or lose would be finite.

Is Pascal's wager a proof for God?

Pascal, however, did not advance the wager as a proof of God's existence but rather as a necessary pragmatic decision which is "impossible to avoid" for any living person.

What is the moral of Pascal's wager?

Pascal maintains that we are incapable of knowing whether God exists or not, yet we must “wager” one way or the other. Reason cannot settle which way we should incline, but a consideration of the relevant outcomes supposedly can.

What are the three types of atheists?

Philosophers such as Antony Flew and Michael Martin have contrasted positive (strong/hard) atheism with negative (weak/soft) atheism. Positive atheism is the explicit affirmation that gods do not exist. Negative atheism includes all other forms of non-theism.

What are the new atheists often called?

The four have been described as "evangelical atheists". Harris wrote several bestselling non-fiction books including The End of Faith, Letter to a Christian Nation, The Moral Landscape, and Waking Up, along with two shorter works (initially published as e-books) Free Will and Lying.

What is Pascal's wager for dummies?

If you believe that God exists, and this is untrue, then you experience the finite loss of being wrong. The conclusion that you ought to “bet” on the probability that God exists, no matter how small, to avoid the infinite loss of eternal damnation, is known as Pascal's Wager.

What is an objection to Pascal's wager we Cannot choose what to believe?

One objection to Pascal's wager is that we cannot change our beliefs just by choosing to. How might Pascal best respond to this? a. You can change your beliefs instantly if you apply force of will.

Is belief in God rational?

According to classical foundationalism, belief in God is not rational unless it is supported by evidence or argument. Classical foundationalism, as assumed in the Enlightenment, elevated theistic arguments to a status never held before in the history of Western thought.

Do most scientists believe in God?

The Pew Research Center poll of scientists also found that levels of religious faith vary according to scientific specialty and age. For instance, chemists are more likely to believe in God (41%) than those who work in the other major scientific fields.

Who is the oldest known God?

Inanna is among the oldest deities whose names are recorded in ancient Sumer. She is listed among the earliest seven divine powers: Anu, Enlil, Enki, Ninhursag, Nanna, Utu, and Inanna. These seven would form the basis for many of the characteristics of the gods who followed.

Where did the idea of God come from?

The idea that God is a self-existent being was developed and explained by St. Anselm in the eleventh century. By various arguments Anselm had satisfied him- self that among those beings that exist there is one that is supremely great and good-nothing that exists or ever did exist is its equal.

What is the oldest religion on earth?

The word Hindu is an exonym, and while Hinduism has been called the oldest religion in the world, many practitioners refer to their religion as Sanātana Dharma (Sanskrit: सनातन धर्म, lit.

Do animals believe in God?

Although my dog may stare at me like I'm a deity, there's no evidence to suggest that non-human animals have religion. They don't worship, pray or believe in gods of any kind, but they do perform ritualistic behaviours, prompting some to speculate that animals could have a spiritual side.

What was the first religion to exist?

Sometimes called the official religion of ancient Persia, Zoroastrianism is one of the world's oldest surviving religions, with teachings older than Buddhism, older than Judaism, and far older than Christianity or Islam. Zoroastrianism is thought to have arisen “in the late second millennium B.C.E.

Do I have to be baptized to go to heaven?

While Jesus told Nicodemus, “Amen, Amen, I say to you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit” (John 3:5), he did not set baptism as a hindrance to salvation but just the opposite. We so often judge things by human standards, but God is not restrained by our standards.