Pascal's Wager is a suggestion posed by the French philosopher Blaise Pascal that a person should wager as though God exists. If you're wrong, you've lost nothing. If you're right, you go to Heaven.I still hear people use this a lot, so I'm going to run down the main reasons it can be disregarded. First, you have the problem of God - which god do you wager on? The Christian God is not the only one around today, and certainly not the only one who has ever been around. There have been many, many gods throughout the ages. You're likely to choose the wrong god to bet on, and you've gained nothing. You may have even pissed off the real god by choosing one of his/her/its rivals.
Secondly this makes the assumption that even if you pick the right god, that god will reward you for allegiance. Perhaps the one true god doesn't like blind sheep following him/her/it. Or perhaps the one true god would rather you worshipped him/her/it because you thought it proper, not because you were hedging your bets.
So we see that being wrong might put you at odds with the one true god. Being right might even come off as pandering by the one true god and be a mark against your favor. But these are silly imaginary beings we're talking about here. One could make up anything and it would be just as valid.
The real thing you've lost here and now is your entitlement to the truth. Wouldn't you rather learn as much as you can about the way the world really is? Why settle for something scrawled by primitives when you can take in thousands of years of scientific advancement? Science isn't perfect, but it's either that or just make shit up. I'd rather believe as many correct things as possible, but if you just want an answer - any answer - I guess religion will do. But you're still losing something if you're wrong. You're losing an understanding of the world around you.
Also, there's this pesky little detail. People who believe in religion tend to vote, attend parent-teacher conferences, join homeowner's associations, etc. Their beliefs inform their input on society. Whether it's freaking out over Janet Jackson's exposed tit or stilting scientific progress in the name of pretend naturalism, personal beliefs have consequences for other people. Believing in psychics and automatic writing have lead to false accusations of child molesting. Kenyans hunt each other as witches. Some people even fly planes into buildings. Unwavering certainty in your beliefs can lead to fundamentalism, which can lead to all sorts of nasty things. Who knows how much progress we would've made if fundamentalists weren't there opposing every new development along the way? Even today things like stem cell research and the Large Hadron Collider are controversial. At the very least, we need to encourage critical thinking and introduce the element of doubt to fervent believers. Conversion is nearly impossible, but introducing a little doubt can go a long way in making the world better for the rest of us.
It's a good thing Pascal never went to Vegas. He would've had to hitchhike home.
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