re: #293 stabby

YES THEY ARE. Is that so hard to understand? You’ve put your finger on the precise mechanism by which religion destroys the human mind’s ability to become sentient. Fear of rationality is what obliterates the potential for rationality.

The fancy term for this stupid line of reasoning is Pascal’s Wager, which runs something like this:

I can choose to be an atheist or a believer.

1) I can be an atheist. If I’m wrong, it’s eternity spent hip deep in molten lead. If I’m right, I get the benefits of not going to church (e.g., more time on Sundays).

2) I can be a believer (or at least pretend). If I’m wrong, I’m out a few Sundays. If I’m right, heaven (probably) awaits.

Belief then follows as a consequence of risk mitigation.

The essential futility of this line of reasoning is apparent once the question of exactly which beliefs need to be subscribed to in order to get out of hell is raised.