BrianJarrett.com

I read an article while I was waiting to get my hair cut a couple weeks ago in AARP magazine that featured a survey of the religious opinions of people over the age of 50. They took 50 people and asked them basic questions about their belief in an afterlife, God, etc. Not surprisingly most of the people interviewed said they believed in God (more women than men did actually) but one interviewee surprised me a bit. This guy said that he did not believe in an afterlife although he went to Catholic church every Sunday and went through all the motions anyway. On the surface he looked just like everyone else but inside he was very, very different. Not surprisingly he did not provide his name for fear of reprisals, not uncommon to non-believers.

This guy was using Pascal’s Wager, which essentially says this: I’m not sure I believe but I’m going to pretend I do just in case. If I’m wrong nothing’s lost; I’m going to die anyway. But if I’m right then I have a wonderful afterlife to look forward to. Some have mentioned that Blaise Pascal may have said this in jest but regardless it has several inherent flaws. The biggest flaw is that an omniscient god will know if you truly believe or not. So going through the motions accomplishes nothing other than proving you’re a liar. You can’t pretend to believe as a fallback option. In my opinion honest disbelief is more admirable than dishonest “belief”. At least a non-believer is truthful about his or her non-belief.

The point is that it got me thinking. I began to wonder just how many people are really using Pascal’s Wager but putting on a pious face to hide it. It’s a very big deal in this country to come out and actually claim disbelief. Non-believers have been vilified incessantly by fundamentalists over the years and many non-believers are still “in the closet”, so to speak.

I’d be willing to bet that there are many, many more non-believers in the U.S. right now than we know but most of them are afraid to come out to both the public and, more importantly, themselves. I’d myself wager that Pascal’s wager is widely used and widely hidden. What I thought was so remarkable about this interviewee is that he consistently behaved as a devout Catholic while disbelieving the entire time. I’d always thought of people using Pascal’s Wager as more moderate, rarely going to church, and rarely even addressing religious issues. People barely religious but playing it safe, so to speak. I’d never really thought that overtly devout people could be hiding such a blatant disbelief.

Maybe as time goes on and more people start standing up for themselves and questioning the authority of religious organizations we’ll see some of these fence sitters become more honest with themselves and with others. Once we’re really honest with ourselves about ourselves then we can grow; otherwise we’re just living the lie and going through the motions. It’s dangerous being a pioneer but as more people are honest with themselves and others then it can create a supportive environment to encourage others to do the same. I guess time will tell.