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I didn't realize that gravity and germs were still just theories.
And this makes me wonder what kids are being taught in their sciences classes. Either kids aren't paying attention, or schools aren't teaching. This post, along with a few others, has inspired me to spend time with my neighbors son. He's currently working on a science project for a class (7th grade in the US) and his assignment involves using the scientific method. My husband was home when they initially came over for help, and I only spoke with the mom for a few minutes when walking the dog. I didn't get the feeling that they really understood the assignment. I tried to explain that he was probably supposed to develop a hypothesis and test it.
I'm going to go over there today and explain to this kid what a scientific hypothesis is, a law, and a theory. Imo, it's not ok that anyone in the west, people that completely rely on science every day, fail to understand basic terms.
Someone may have already said it, but your question sounds like Pascal’s Wager: "Believe in a God just in case you're wrong." Now the fallacy in that wager is the fact that, as someone said in the beginning, you're treating it as an insurance policy and for that, it questions if the believer only abides by his religion just for that purpose. For instance, for one to be a good Christian, one has to truly believe and take as truth the principles of Christianity rather than following its rituals just so he won't go to hell.
Now, another thing is: what if that person is also wrong? I mean Buddhism, Judaism, Islam are other very popular religions (I understand from Catholicism - I was brought up this way - that, well bluntly, if you aren't Catholic, you're going to hell) and what if it is true that the other religion (there are tens of thousands more) is correct, doesn't that make your chance being correct while only believing in a single religion quite small anyways?
In my personal opinion, I believe that this wager, assuming that's why you believe in the religion, is a complete loss because many religions oppress a lot of instincts and pleasures people have (limitation of sex, monogamy, etc.). As an existentialist, I don't have anything against people that believe in any dogma, but I find it very suffocating as human beings to oppress ourselves.
Let me add another observation, it may sound like I was bashing religious people, but truly sometimes I feel quite jealous of them because they seem, overall, happier. I believe that it can be attributed to them having a defined goal in their life (achieve heaven, nirvana, etc.) rather than a "live, die, done" perspective. For that, I try to maximize my pursuit of happiness for myself and for others.
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