Pascal's Wager: useful for a change

Last weekend while pumping gas for Soy at the Arco on Franklin and Gower, the guy at the next pump approached and asked me if I knew Jesus. He launched into his proselytizing with Paley's Watchmaker analogy; I recognized what he was doing when he pointed to an apartment block across the way and asked if it was fair to assume that an architect was behind its design. The problem with the Argument from Design is that it demands a prerequisite ignorance of basic scientific knowledge. Darwin's law of natural selection adequately wounded Paley's argument in 1859; Richard Dawkins' 1986 book, The Blind Watchmaker, should have been the final nail in its coffin. Ignorance is bliss for believers, apparently.

Gas station missionary then proceeded to outline what I recognized as Pascal's Wager for me in broad strokes. Unfortunately, before I could explicate the successful rebuttals (see here and here) to Pascal's flawed chart, the cars behind us began honking for our gas pumps and the evangelist took his leave.

A significant problem with campaigners for Christ is that they don't know science and Enlightenment philosophy as well as most atheists know the Bible. If you're going to approach random strangers at gas stations to attempt a religious conversion, you should do your homework first. One more thing: do not act so smug and patronizing when you learn that I was raised a Roman Catholic. I am atheist because I employ reason in my thinking; not because of the doctrine of Transubstantiation or papal politics (though I do have ethical problems with the latter).

Here is a very interesting (if a bit nerdy) video that repurposes Pascal's Wager for a more pressing problem: