Reply #116: I would say that neither of those examples is rational, of course. [View All]

[trotsky]

But not just because they can be criticized from an external standpoint.

For the first, all that needs to be pointed out is that many times, lots of people have believed something that turned out to be false. Shape of the world, etc.

And the second, well, there are tons of logical flaws with Pascal's Wager but the most glaring of all is, what about the consequences of believing in the WRONG god? The wager is portrayed as an either/or situation when real life is nothing like that. Not only can you "choose" to believe in god or not, but once you choose to believe, which god do you choose? The problem being, of course, that some gods are very jealous gods and will punish you for believing incorrectly.

Stepping back for a minute, I think your use of the words "respect" / "disrespect" begin to echo what the original work was talking about. "Respecting" someone's beliefs doesn't mean I have to hold those beliefs in high regard. But it doesn't mean that in the process I am actively disrespecting the believer, either.