Atheists: wouldn't it be better...?

For the sake of all humans on the planet, and the planet itself, yes it would actually.

If you die and there isn't God, then you would never know, so it would be okay; and there's nothing wrong with the latter, but a corrupt and unjust god, and getting punished for an idea (going to hell because of being an atheist) are freaking bull too. Why can't we just all treat others well and be productive members of society and enjoy life now?!

Translation to logical thinking language: Atheists, wouldn't it be stupider to WASTE your precious only life you will have, in believing in a blatant fairy tale about an invisible magical man in the clouds? Wouldn't it be a waste of time and 10% of your hard earned money, sitting in a stuffy church every Sunday morning?

It's not the 50/50 bet you think it is. The odds of your illogical, paradoxical and ridiculous barbaric "loving" sky daddy is ZERO. For a baby killing, eternal torturing and "loving" God to exist the entire cosmos would have to be so f@cked up and one big joke, that it wouldn't even matter after that.

What if the god that really exists sends all good people to heaven and all bad people to hell except people who pretended to know for a fact another god existed? then all good atheists are going to heaven but YOU ARE GOING STRAIGHT TO HELL. Why not repent when you still have time? Why risk eternity in hell?

What if god loves music and sends all musicians to heaven, but all other people to hell? How can you risk eternal torture by not playing at least four hours a day?

And how can you worship a sadistic god that tortures good people - most of the people who ever lived - for all eternity?

Pascal's wager:

"If god exists, it's infinitely better to believe, since you get heaven instead of hell for eternity. If he doesn't, it doesn't matter since you're dead anyway. So overall it's better to believe"

This is, of course, false.

Some of the problems with the argument:

* The assumption that if a god really exists, he or she set up an afterlife with a heaven and hell

* The assumption that if a god really exists, he or she cares about belief in him/her above all else

* The assumption that if you believe in a god, it will definitely be the same god that actually exists.

* The assumption that you lose nothing if it's false. Religious belief costs people plenty - money donated to churches, time spent praying, marriages ending because of religious differences, lives lost because of relying on prayers or refused medical care, wars... need I go on?

* The assumption that people can believe in something simply because it benefits them. Would you believe goblins exist for twenty bucks? Why not?

* The assumption that any god won't see through the "believing just to get into heaven" ploy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZpJ7yUPwdU

http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/pascal-wager/

http://www.infidels.org/library/modern/theism/wage...

Actually, that's known as the Atheist's Wager. Live a moral life, and in the end, if a benevolent god exists, he'll judge you on your actions rather than your beliefs.

You cannot pretend to believe.

Saying that you believe does not mean you believe.

In a way, Atheist are people who are being real. At least they can own up to the fact that they cannot believe blindly. And even if receiving eternal punishment for this, perhaps, it's still worthy to not believe and be punished. Who wants to serve a boss that is so dictatorial?

you wouldn't find out there isn't one, you would be dead and your brain cells would stop working, thus ending any thought process. And I guess it would be better, to lie to yourself and think there is an afterlife. But that is selfish to us, and ill tell you why. If our fairytale that will make us feel better means that we waste time and resources on religion, make political decisions based on it, slow down scientific research, and hurt the future of society, it is doing MUCH more harm than good.

Sorry, but I will never worship anything on the basis of a what if. I would rather enjoy my life and live it in pleasure and peace rather than dedicate it to one of infinite possibilities. I try to live my live the best I wish to and to treat other humans with respect they earn, everything else is secondary.

Worshiping in fear is a hideous notion more along the lines of a dictator than a loving deity.

I'm so sick of Pascals Wager, is this really all you got? It applies to anything and everything, why not believe in Thor or allah or amen ra? How do you know you picked the right god out of the thousands to choose from? Seriously, google it.

The second one because then you are pleasantly surprised rather than finding out you lived your life as a lie.

So live life against what you truly believe in fear of eternal punishment. Oh what a loving God.