From: *****CyndiM@aol.com
Date: Thu, 2 Mar 2000 13:41:48 EST
Subject: feedback
To: Darwin@atheists.net

Here's something to think about.  When all is said and done, and we have both
lived our lives, and died, if your are right, I will not have missed out on
anything.  I have lived a happy life, with hope for my future.  And I assume
you believe we will just both cease to exist.  However, if I am correct, when
we die, I will have something to look forward to, while you will be in a
world of trouble.  So what do I have to lose by choosing to believe?  Nothing.

* * *

From: Darwin Bedford

I submit this article extracted from Roedy Green's post at http://mindprod.com/god.html

Holy Blackmail

Several people have tried to persuade me to become Christian with a pragmatic argument that goes like this:

Let's assume that it is very unlikely that God exists, say 1%. You should still believe in Him anyway and follow Christian dogma for purely practical reasons. There are four cases:

  1. If you believe in Him and He does not exist, what do you lose? You just die and nothing happens.
  2. If you believe in Him and He does exist, you have eternity in Heaven.
  3. If you don't believe in Him and He does not exist, you just die and nothing happens.
  4. If you don't believe in Him and He does exist, you will rot in Hell for eternity.
You come out ahead if you believe, in two of the four cases.

I counter this argument by saying:

  1. I am interested in the truth, not toadying to some imaginary despot. This argument is roughly the moral equivalent of a scientist falsifying his findings in hopes of receiving a bribe from a tobacco company. It is intellectual dishonesty. Poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772-1834) in his Aids To Reflection put it this way; "He who begins by loving Christianity better than truth, will proceed by loving his own sect or church better than Christianity, and end in loving himself better than all."
  2. If this argument persuades you, then you should become a Muslim. Islam offers far greater after death rewards to the faithful and far more terrifying tortures for the non-believer that Christianity does. Jehovah is a wimp compared with Allah. Read the Qur'an if you are skeptical. I did and had nightmares for months.
  3. The Greek philosopher Epicurus (circa. 341-270 BC) put it this matter-of-fact way: "Why should I fear death? If I am, death is not. If death is, I am not. Why should I fear that which cannot exist when I do?"
  4. Every religion offers these punishments and rewards to its rejectors and adherents, including the worship of Wotan and Zeus and the religions of the Indians of the Amazon. How do you decide which is the true religion? They all sound equally improbable, bogus and silly.
  5. If you follow the tenets of Christianity you would probably lead a more evil life than you would otherwise. You would be judgemental. You would discriminate against gays and probably blacks. You would lie to people about the best ways to cure disease. You would spread superstition and lies that are part of the Christian faith. You would indirectly kill children by blocking sex education about AIDS and birth control. For a more detailed list of the evils of Christianity, see the essay on why Christianity should be combatted. As an extreme example, Jeff Daumer said grace before consuming his murder victims.
  6. If you believe in God, you life will actually be more miserable than if you do not. Why? If you believe in God, you will tend to mope around praying -- wondering why God is ignoring you. You will waste time waiting for God to do things only you can do for yourself. If you don't believe in God, you will be much more practical and self reliant. You won't be saddled with an unrealistic sense of entitlement. You cannot very well be angry with God if you don't believe in Him.

    7.