The Weakest Wager
James Troutman
Originally written 2002/10/11
Last revised 2003/07/13
"After all, what harm can a little prayer do?"
This is a variation of "Pascal's Wager," a name given to Blaise Pascal's famous proposition that can be summarized thusly: "If God exists, then if you worship him you will receive everlasting happiness, but if you don't you will receive everlasting torment; on the other hand, if he doesn't exist, then you have nothing to lose." Notice that this is not a proof for the existence of a god, merely a suggestion that the odds are in favor of those who believe or who behave as though they believe.
The problem with this is that it makes a number of assumptions about the nature of the god or gods, such as:
- This god is omniscient (that is, it knows not only whether you've been naughty or nice, but everything that you do or think).
- This god intercedes in human affairs (either actively by healing the sick according to some capricious logic or passively by rewarding a place in its heaven to those who follow its rules).
- This god wants to be worshipped (i.e., good deeds don't cut it; you've got to believe or at least go through the motions of pretending to believe).
- This god is so stupid that it can't tell the difference between true piety and hypocrisy (this contradicts the first assumption). Either that, or it rewards hypocrisy.
I don't know, but if I were a god, I'd reserve a special place in hell for the hypocrites.
I'm not a god, but you may feel free to worship me in any way you choose. After all, it can't hurt. Can it?
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