Letter: Winners and losers

Editor, Daily News:

Daniel H. Lee, in his letter of June 20, offers us Pascal's Wager.

If he believes in the Christian God and is wrong, he claims he loses nothing. If he is right, he gains eternal life in paradise. If the atheist is right, he loses nothing, but if he is wrong, he suffers for all eternity.

Lee seems to think he wins no matter what, but there are a couple of problems with Pascal's reasoning.

First, what if Lee has chosen the wrong god? There have been many gods throughout human history competing for followers.

It is the height of arrogance (a sin?) to be so sure one has the right one. If Lee wants to be on the winning side, he best worship all possible gods. But unfortunately a couple of them won't allow that. So, he's forced to take his chances. He could be wrong.

Second, the atheist will not have lost anything really if he's wrong because the atheist simply does not believe the stories of gods. If there is a god who will punish gruesomely for all eternity a person who cannot believe that any of the various god stories is true, the atheist can at least say he lived honestly and with respect for reason.

Any god who hides from his children only to torture them for not being able to find him without sacrificing the reason he gave them is not worthy of worship. So the atheist will always be right. If you have to "believe" it's true, it probably isn't.

— Dianna Narciso / Palm Bay