Expert: Vincent M. Wales - 7/19/2005

Question
I am wondering since Jesus said that no one can get into heaven without him. Since he promised so much goog for us why can't atheists just try out the prayers from the Catholic Church. It can't hurt. If there is no god then praying to him won't have hurt. If there is a God-Jesus then it will hurt not to have believed in him and there will be the risk of hell. So my question is why can't atheists just try God. It can't hurt. What is there reason to be determined not to.
God bless,
Michael Fannon

Answer
Michael:

First, I'm wondering... why do you suggest "prayers from the Catholic Church"?  Why not some other church?  For that matter, why not some other religion?  No one has ever offered any convincing argument as to why I should choose, for example, Jesus over Mohammed.  Or Judaism over Wicca.  

Anyway, what you're asking here is basically a rephrasing of a common argument known as "Pascal's Wager," named after the French philosopher & mathematician who made it famous.

Pascal's Wager basically says we should believe in a god out of fear of, as you put it, the risk of hell. But what kind of sense does that make? This is no different than someone saying to you, "If you don't believe in [insert whatever idiotic thing you like], I'll kill your children."

This is the crux of it:  You can't believe something just because you're afraid of the alternative.

You can change BEHAVIOR out of fear... but not belief. If someone puts a gun to your head, you will probably change your normal behavior and hand over your wallet to a complete stranger.  But you won't start believing it's the right thing to do.

Beliefs aren't changed out of fear, nor out of a desire for something good. Beliefs go beyond all of that.  And think about it: if there really is an omniscient god, he/she/it would certainly know that any professed belief (whether out of fear, desire, or both) was bogus.

Some would argue, therefore, that a truly just god (as most Christians claim their deity is) would never send an atheist to hell, because an atheist is being true to his/her beliefs, which are based on reason. God would not reward hypocrites, nor punish the principled.

You end by implying that the atheist has nothing to lose by just "trying God."  But I disagree.  I'd lose self-respect. I would be a hypocrite, essentially. And that's not something I'm willing to do.