Pascal's Wager is an argument that Atheists like to attribute to Christians because it is easy to refute.
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Nah, we attribute it to Blaise Pascal .... who just happened to be a christian trying to convince other people to become christians too, by describing believing in a god as being the safest option.
(and loads of other christians have followed him in this silly notion)
Actually, I like to attribute it to Blaise Pascal.
EDIT: Damn, I really need to read the other comments before I post.
I've never heard anyone invoke Pascal's Wager who wasn't a christian trying to convince me to believe in their god.
So, based on my personal experiences, your statement is incorrect.
Possible. A lot of Fundies claim that Roman Catholics are not Christians, therefore attributing it to Blaise Pascal (and in it's earlier form, to Islamic sources) may be correct in what is left of his mind.
But he is correct about it being easy to refute.
Norm
Sadly, I must confess to having used Pascal's Wager a few times. I know better now, but it is an easy mistake to make, especially for Christians, it seems. I've also heard a fair few other Christians use it.
To be fair, although it seems to be used primarily by Christians, Pascal's Wager really could be, and is, used by numerous other religions as well. Which, when you think about it, is rather ironic.
Really there are more religious groups than Christians who use it, but yeah, Christians use it the most. It really only makes sense that those who believe in the god of Abraham would use it with the most frequency since none of the other gods that I'm aware of will sentence you to eternity in Hell for not worshipping them constantly.
My favoured way of refuting Pascal's Wager is with something Homeric:-
"But Marge, what if we picked the wrong god? Every time we go to church, we're just making God madder and madder."
But I always refute, never attribute.
I, too, am quite fond of the Simpsonian refutation of Pascal's Wager.
We'd stop refuting it so often if Christians didn't use it so often.
“Pascal's Wager is an argument that Atheists like to attribute to Christians”
We know who created it and we know what God he was trying to encourage belief in.
“because it is easy to refute.”
Yes, it is. But i seldom see Wiccan’s trying to use it to promote THEIR religion.
Confused?
So were we! You can find all of this, and more, on Fundies Say the Darndest Things!
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