Predictions

     I welcome those who are affiliated with the Metro East Atheist Network and everyone else who wishes to endure the diatribes that I hope to post on a regular basis from here on out. I am sure in the beginning I will be borrowing some ideas or at least the kernels for my discussions from some others. This first post was born from thoughts I had while listening to an episode of Freakonomics Radio, which I highly recommend as they intelligently cover a number of topics.
     This particular episode was about predictions. People are constantly making predictions, whether it's some guy predicting the end of the world or just predicting what traffic might be like on the way in to work today and deciding to leave a little earlier. They were speaking of how "experts" make big predictions because if they are correct there are big payoffs to them being right. Take for example the guy earlier this year predicting May 21 being judgement day, if right he is seen as a prophet and will gain great fame and following, wrong and people forget all about him several months later.
     This got me thinking about how religion is in itself a prediction and one in which one can never be proved wrong. Pascal's wager came to mind, for those not familiar, the basic idea is if you gamble on god and are right it pays off with eternal salvation, wrong and you are no worse off. The flip side is, if you deny god and are right, there is no benefit and if wrong the consequences are eternal damnation. For either side this is a prediction that will never have to be proved to anyone else, however you can strongly be judged by others on what choice you make now.
     I do understand making predictions and taking precautions based on the fear of the unknown. I for instance have emergency gear and food so that I am prepared for a number of disasters. However, I feel that religion uses the unknown to capitalize on that fear and use it to control people. This is evident by the fact that religion frequently denies and fights scientific explanations and advances. The more that science explains, the fewer unknowns there are for us to be afraid of and less fears to be exploited. I feel this creates an incentive for religion to hinder scientific advances and that is a reason many people are concerned about how much religion is being inserted into politics recently. This has caused nonbelievers to become more active, the "New Atheist" movement is a statement "We do not want supernatural predictions and the fears they cause to guide the policies of our country"