One of the most common things a nonbeliever will hear is; What if you're wrong?
I usually understand this point to be Pascals wager or Pascals Gambit. Pascal gives a simple cost benefit analysis to defend theism. It states that if there IS a god and you believe, you go to heaven. If there IS a god and you don't believe, you go to hell. Conversely if there isn't a god and whether you believe or not, you have lost nothing.
So that's simple, you must believe right? Well, no. First on the rebuttle is can you actually fool god? If a person examines the evidence, eg the bible, koran, ect., and cannot find that to be accurate or true, can he then say he believes in a vain attempt to enter heaven? Will god not see through this deception? Wouldn't the jealous god of the bible be angry then? Obviously this makes no sense but it gets worse. How about living with self respect. Are you seriously telling me that you can extol the faith when you know it's wrong?! What kind of person would you then become? If god gave us reason and logic, would it not then be wrong to dispose of these? Wouldn't god want us to search for truth, not settle for self imposed brain washing? It is unhealthy to knowingly believe in a lie.
Pascals wager is really a disgusting attempt at creating self delusion in expense of your self respect, dignity, humanity, health, reason, and all the little things that make us explorers of humanity and the cosmos. This is "religious hucksterism of the cheapest, vulgarest, nastiest kind that is possible to imagine" AND all this says nothing about believing in the wrong god. Last point here, if this god is so forgiving, so loving, so smart, so wonderful why would he have no room in his 'heart' for honest, decent people who have done nothing wrong at all?
Another arguments goes like this; We would not have morality if not for god or religion.
How long have people been around gives you the easy, fast answer. If you believe the world is only 6,000 years old, there isn't much I can do here. If you accept that humanity has been around on the order of 100,000 plus years, it is plain to see that we would not have gotten as far as we did if morality wasn't innate. Morality also follows cultural development and this usually have a religious element to it but as is also plain religion and the bible or koran have come only in the last 2,000 years. How did humanity get by for 98,000+ years without god? How did the jews who wandered the desert before coming upon MT. Sinai know that murder, rape, perjury, theft were not okay? Of course they knew long before then.
If we could go back say 1,000 years or during the time of the Inquisition, we would see that they followed the bible and its tenets very closely. They persecuted witches, tortured and killed heretics, endorsed slavery and genocide on an order that would frighten and outrage us today. We can also read the international headlines and read what most muslim countries offer us in light of gods wisdom. Cutting off the noses and ears for women who dishonor the family, stoning people for conversing with the wrong interpreters of muhammad, and throwing battery acid in the face of women for attending school. Is muhammad's law just and reasonable, I THINK NOT!
Please don't think we need to be stuck in the bronze age of morality and wisdom of our world. Is it not apparent that we need to understand our history and moderate our ignorance of issues and topics with care and understanding? Do you realize modern western culture has moderated christianity to its current standing and the muslin world lags behind us only for the fact that their faith guides their society and not education, science, and reason. Do not let faith guide your actions anymore.
