Monday, May 23, 2016

I've been enjoying these Crash Course series on the philosophy of religion (complete playlist here), but I was slightly disappointed in the episode on Pascal's Wager.



To my mind, the episode didn't point out the biggest problem with Pascal's Wager.  And it's not a problem with the cynicism of believing for pragmatic benefit.

The real problem is perhaps best represented by this SouthPark clip:



Sorry, the video quality is a bit grainy.  Here's the transcript.
The scene is that a bunch of newly dead souls are being introduced to hell.

Hell Director: Hello, newcomers and welcome. Can everybody hear me? Hello? Can everybody... ok. Um, I am the Hell Director. Uh, it looks like we have 8,615 of you newbies today. And for those of you who were little confused: uh, you are dead; and this is Hell. So abandon all hope and yadda-yadda-yadda. Uh, we are now going to start the orientation Process which will last about...
Protestant: Hey, wait a minute. I shouldn't be here, I was a totally strict and devout Protestant. I thought we went to heaven.
Hell Director: Yes, well, I'm afraid you are wrong.
Soldier: I was a practicing Jehovah's Witness.
Hell Director: Uh, you picked the wrong religion as well.
Man from Crowd: Well who was right? Who gets in to Heaven?
Hell Director: I'm afraid it was the Mormons. Yes, the Mormons were the correct answer.
The Damned: Awwww...

Richard Dawkins also made a similar point when asked the question: "What if you're wrong?"


Homer Simpson also made the same point when he was trying to convince his wife to let him stay home from church.  "But what if we picked the wrong religion?  Then every week we're just making God madder and madder?" (I can't find the video clip.)

And there's also this:


(But I'm repeating myself again.  I've already made this point before here and here.)

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