What are the odds of God existing?

You are assuming that whenever there are possibilities each has an equal probability, thus when there are two possibilities the odds of it being one is 50%. I'm not sure there is any justification for this assumption.

So its hardly possible to calculate the odds is it? If I rolled a die, I might say the odds of it landing on 6 are one in six, however I would be assuming that all possibilities are equiprobable. If I bought the die from a professional die makers who based their reputation on that, I'd be happy with it. I could even test it to see.In the case of the creation of the universe itself, there is no reason to assume the possibilities are equiprobable. It doesn't matter about the evidence, if we don't have any evidence either way we can't use that to assume they are equiprobable.There have been no logical grounds on which to make the assumption, contrary to the die scenario. Consider the Monty Hall problem as an alternate way to illustrate it. There are only two options, but they are not equiprobable.

I understand that, but you are simply saying that because we don't know what the probabilities actually are, we'll say they're equiprobable. Therfore the probabilities are....Its not a particularly inspired line of reasoning is it? You just throw in an assumption which gives you the answer to your problem. It seems almost circular: What is the probability that God exists? Well...if we assume that it has as much probability as any other possiblity then its 50%Should we start accepting Pascal's wager now?This message has been edited by Modulous, Fri, 28-April-2006 09:47 PM

I remember the name now - its the Principle of Indifference that you are using and it has the problems associated with it as outlined (also the PI only works if the possibilities are intrinsically the same but in name only). It serves a purpose only when its used to build an argument, not as an argument itself. Its validity in this situation can easily be debated.This message has been edited by Modulous, Fri, 28-April-2006 10:47 PM