Apathist

I'm an Apathist.  It's a funny sort of mix between the various flavours of Atheism and Agnostism.

At its very root is the fact that I just don't care.  Arguments about religions and their various gods are tedious; by their very nature there is no way of resolving them.

So, lets take some points.  See if you agree or disagree with my reasoning.

• There is no evidence of gods.
• Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence.
• Pascal's wager shows (when corrected for high numbers of gods*) that it is irrational to worship any one god for fear of angering any of the other gods.
• Most religions hold that gods can only be understood supernaturally - usually this means post-mortem.
• It therefore holds that any gods who may exist will be reveal themselves after death.  Traditionally, in the West, this means a day of reckoning and / or being consigned to heaven, hell or purgatory.
• I cannot know gods in life - nor can anyone else - after death I will either experience nothing or I will find out which gods I should have been worshipping.
• The probability of my death is 100%
• So, at some point I will either have the definitive answer or be in no position to care.

There is no way to know - the very discussion of the subject is pointless**.  Hence apathy.

This rock we're stuck on is billions of years old.  I'm going to be on it for a handful of years (time-travel, cryogenics and reincarnation not withstanding).

I can choose to worry about whether something, somewhere, cares who I love, what I eat or how many thetan souls reside in me.

Or, I can choose not to worry.  To have fun. Do good. Leave the world in a slightly better state for those who are left after I've gone.

Footnotes

*Pascal's Wager is simply explained as "If there is a god and I don't worship her - I'll go to hell. Whereas, if there is no god and I worship her - I've lost nothing.  Therefore, it's more rational to worship god on the off-chance she exist becuase the punishment is so terrible."

This falls down in several areas

• What if you are worshiping the wrong god?  Most gods seem rather vengeful; there are lots and lots to choose from.
• Have you lost nothing by spending a portion of each day venerating an imaginary friend?
• Finally - and this depends on the rationality of any gods - would they welcome you with open arms if they knew you didn't really believe but were just playing it safe?

**So, why spend so much time talking and blogging about it?  Sadly, we live in a world where rationality is under assault.  It is necessary to gently let people know that they are not alone.  That there is rationality in the world.