Don’t see why you’d be shunned, mate. You’re very welcome to post. Just make sure to wear the flame-proof undies. :)

Tom, Greta is no more an authority than you. Or even Pascal. Anyone can philosophise (i.e. think), regardless of the actual outcomes they postulate. Trying to claim that Pascal must be believed simply because he’s Pascal is the logical fallacy known as the “appeal to authority”.

Your purile claim that “atheism is the lazy man’s answer” is you simply avoiding the question. You’re trying to avoid the cognitive dissonance being set up by the simple fact that there is absolutely no reason to follow your god over any other god. When are you converting to Wicca, may I ask?

Note that you are also being sexist – not all atheists are men.

And Greta is an authority on this because…….?????

Atheism as the lazy mans answer fits very well. I like the analogy.

What happens when you put Christianity against Islam, or v.v.?
Aren’t Muslims “a-Christian theists”?
Aren’t Christians “a-Allahists”.
If P.W. “works” with all religions, which one is riht one?

Horatio, you’re not thinking it through. As noted in Greta’s article, Pascal’s wager means that the theist has conceded the discussion.

When you put atheism up against Christianity, Islam or Mormonism just to name a few, they all defeat atheism in Pascal’s wager. Atheism is the lazy man’s answer.

“There are too many possibilities so I give up”

Faith is the ANTITHESIS of thinking.

And none of these theists seems willing to answer basic questions.

One of the greatest civilizations of all time (the Greeks) believed the Sun to be the god Apollo, driving his fiery chariot across the sky, drawn by horses made of flames.

Why doesn’t Pascal’s Wager apply to Apollo? Why is it not a “safer bet” to believe the Sun to be a god driving a burning chariot across the sky?

Why doesn’t Pascal’s Wager apply to the appeasement of any number of “volcano gods?” Belief might keep the volcano from erupting! You have everything to gain! What do you have to lose? (except the possibility of actually understanding the way volcanoes work)

Why doesn’t Pascal’s Wager apply to Ganesha, Elephant-Headed Remover of Obstacles? Or, his father, Shiva, Destroyer of Worlds?

Why doesn’t Pascal’s Wager apply to Islam?

The answer is: Because Pascal’s Wager is intellectually bankrupt. It contributes nothing to the cause of understanding Truth. Our own personal interest in ANY conjectured idea, has no bearing on the likelihood of it being true, or false.

Pascal’s Wager demonstrates how religion can totally mislead a smart, rational mind. Blaise Pascal was a smart guy. He was a very smart guy who famously came up with a very BIASED idea. Despite being a brilliant mathematician, he couldn’t see how he had stacked the deck in favor of his own desired outcome.

Too tempted by Paradise to properly understand a pair of dice.