akirlu | A Plague on All His Houses (Reply)

Woke up to the radio alarm announcing that people are blowing each other up in India, most likely over the findings of a long awaited report on a contested religious site. I'm inclined to think that the follow-on to Who Is This God Person, Anyway ought to be entitled An Incompleat Compendium of Attrocities God Needs to Answer For. Yes, I suppose humankind would find idiotic reasons to murder each other even without the benefit of theism, but theism sure does add that extra dollop of self-righteous assurance that makes killing in God's name not merely acceptable, but an actual good in the eyes of believers. Under circumstances where murder is justified and glorious and good, I utterly fail to see that the benefits of having God outweigh the costs. Pascal's wager is a bad bet. Your God is not merely too small, he is outright petty, and a terrorist.