@fable RE: Pascal's Wager ... You mirror my own rambling opinion.
@Kayless: First off, I'm sorry for the loss of your pet -- I know how hard it can be, and
no one should feel ashamed for admitting as much, as some would have us believe.

An animal's genuine affection can be even more valuable with society as a whole still putting way too much emphasis on competition, posturing and conformity.
Loss is loss. Personally, I'd sooner question the empathy of someone who disdains grieving over a "mere animal" than of someone who doesn't.
The Nazis were
not atheists, though there likely were individual members who were. As a whole, however, they pushed the god button with gusto, and their terrible anti-semitic madness did not come out of nowhere, but sprang partially from old Christian prejudice. Take Martin Luther, who was deeply anti-semitic himself (and a misogynist, too).
(Note, just to be sure, that I do
not believe this puts any blame or reflects on you or other Christians.)
You seem to be unfamiliar with the concept of religion itself, since all religions are about belief.
No -- I used to be a theist, Christian first, then Wiccan. In fact, it
was arguments like the Wager which prompted me to become a Christian.
And you misunderstood my point: while all religions are about belief (which I never denied, and never will), not all deities decide your fate in the afterlife based (solely or primarily) on your belief in them or the lack thereof ... and this includes some (many? most?) denominations' version of the Christian god.
Maybe we should bring the PW subthread to a stop here, as I do not think it is going anywhere. We both have stated our opinion, and I will not apologize for mine because disagreement, even strong disagreement, does not equal disrespect for
you. However, I do not feel obligated to respect or accept
ideas, no matter who they originated with. If my stance on the Wager offends you, I again ask you to consider the outsider's POV and the possibility of your arguments and opinions offending
them. Such displeasure has to cut both ways or neither.
It might be better to abandon the subject lest we start yelling at each other, and instead focus on less volatile topics we
can agree on, like the thread about Sarevok on the BG2 forum.
"Beware of the blindness of those who would follow, and the damnable lure of those who would lead."
- Tamoko
"Mmm? What's this? You gots hammer? Bhaal once drop hammer on big godly toe. Jump around and swear for days, he did. Kicked poor me all the way to Baator. Very bad week, that."
- Cespenar the imp