Religion:
JoT re Peter re "Wager"

This argument is really about pretending to believe.

Agreed. One doesn’t believe something just because it’s advantageous to do so. One believes something because that’s what seems to be the case.

If the atheist is correct, they will have a fuller life because they live it, rather than spending it waiting for things to come.

I can’t follow you here. You might be right, but this sort of judgment is too subjective to be reliable. In fact, you’ll hear believers making the opposite claim, that their lives would be fuller for believing in a higher power and an afterlife even if those things weren’t true. As a matter of intellectual scruples, I try not to credit subjective, self-serving judgments. If two people with opposite beliefs can each think, “My life is fuller than yours because of my beliefs,” then the humble conclusion to reach is that neither judgment is worth much. I don't trust an atheist who says that their life is better than a believer's any more than I trust a believer who says their afterlife is better than an atheist's.

—JoT
December 2005

Rob's response to an earlier version of this response

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