Various Views on Religiousity

[peristaltor]

Below is proof that I occassionally get long stretches at work that need filling. . . .

Pascal's FollyBack in college philosophy, I learned of Pascal's Religion, an attempt by that venerable gentleman to explain logically why one should embrace Xianity. There are, he postulated, four separate possible outcomes for souls, depending upon one's

Comments

[tacit]

"Pascal's simple algorhythm for eternity only applies if one regards the Official Church -- in his neighborhood, the Roman Catholic one -- as th only possible religion worshipping the only possible God. He completely disregards any of the thousands of, well, pagans and heretics worshipping happily in their own damned neighborhoods."

Pascal's Challenge also ignores the fact that there may be consequences to believing in god if no god exists.

Pascal's payoff matrix has two neutral outcomes, one positive outcome, and one negative outcome. The reality is different. Suppose you believe in god and god does not exist. Neutral outcome? No, not if as a consequence of that belief you miss opportunities to better your life on earth or--worse yet--participate in atrocities in the name of the church.

"It takes just as much faith to deny the unprovable than to affirm it."Not necessarily. An atheist may point to logical contradictions or logical fallacies within a belief system about god, or point to the fact that with almost all such belief

[peristaltor]

As to your penultimate paragraph, that does work in pointing out the logical fallacies of an established dogma. The atheists to whom I refer deny categorically any possible deity, recognized or not, including the most unlikely of deities which, in my opinion, are far more likely to exist than any conventional religion proclaims and which the human mind can envision. I lump true atheists in the "categorical denial" faithful.

And sadly, you are right on about the actions in life wasted toward the speculative afterlife. I've heard anedotal reports about how much time in church many are obliged to spend in the Deep South. Maybe that's what leads to some of their intractability?

Great quote, too!

[shiva_kun]

They have discerned that there is no merit in even posing the question for serious consideration. Just pass the freakin' salt already.

That sounds more like nontheism to me; the believe that the question is more or less moot, whatever you think the answer is. Me, I believe that there is no god or higher power, but the former agnostic in me acknowledges that should some form of empirical evidence ever be brought forth, I would reconsider my claim.

As an aside, I wouldn't have bothered to post this if it weren't for the fact that I thought I had at least a small sliver of information to offer. As to why I'm here...well, anyone who adds you gets free overnight color for their MindMap. The irony being, I already have color, but I figured I should check it out, and I'm rather glad I did as you are a rather entertaining and thought-provoking individual. So, you're on my friend's list. Tacit might wind up there too; he's pretty interesting too.

[peristaltor]

Yeah, the wait for empirical proofs. I too am all about that. Until then. . . .

You won't be dissappointed by Tacit, and I hope I don't bore too much. My brother's MindMap tentacles of influence continue to spread, I see!

[shiva_kun]

Forsooth. I wonder why he chose to do that anyway, free color for friending. Probably a social experiment, but I imagine you'd have a more accurate guess, him being your brother and all.

As a bit of an aside, one of the other journals that recently added you is also mine: the_earth_moved. It's where I post material and thoughts that some of my friends have found too...upfront. It's more or less my not-safe-for-work journal.