Why do atheists buy fire insurance, but reject Pascals Wager?
I do not just by insurance against an jet engine falling off a plane, hitting my house and setting it on fire. I buy insurance against my house being set on fire for any reason. (Other me deliberately starting it.) The problem with Pascal’s Wager as insurance is that each ‘insurance’ agent will only insure you against one very specific threat. If you try to use other ‘insurance’ agents then the first one will cancel your policy. Finally, fires definitely happen. Buying insurance against a real threat is sensible for those that are risk adverse. Pascal’s wager for believing in God is like buying insurance that a race of green aliens with 4 legs and 3 arms are not going to destroy your house using Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principal to make all the atoms disappear at once. This has never happened before and all the evidence says that it is never going to happen.
