Talk:Pascal's Wager

Do you think it might help to mention the idea of "if you roll a die, what are the chances of a 6 or a not-6?" which seemed to be a good way to get the point across that the argument is unbalanced? Obviously this would need to be inserted at the correct point and explained a little more eruditely than what I've just described. Blu Matt 17:50, 31 July 2006 (MST)

Evil/unconventional god

Is there a need to mention the possibility of a god who rewards unbelievers and punishes believers? Such a god would be consistent with the fall-back response of theologians "we cannot understand the ways of god", so it is feasible that such a god would want to reward atheists. This god would not need to be malevolant, merely inactive (mirroring deism with regards to creation), and wanting to reward those who take a rational approach to their beliefs.

The new table would thus be the following

Table of Payoffs	Believe in God	Don't believe in God
God doesn't exist	0	0
Legalistic religious god exists	+∞ (heaven)	−∞ (hell)
Anti-conventional god exists	−∞ (hell)	+∞ (heaven)

The mere possibility of such a god makes the expected outcomes for each column undefined, but more importantly, equal.