Is it advisable to believe in God

Please note that I'm referring to ‘god' in the conventional Christian sense. However before continuing, I would like to advise the affirmative that his second source link appears to be broken, and there is a footnote for a fourth. Also, I was under the impression that it was frowned upon to copy entire blocks of text word for word. It is however my first debate, so forgive me if I am misinformed. I will be arguing in the negation to the motion "It is advisable to believe in god. "My argument will revolve around the principle that it is illogical to place faith in one possibility when all evidence points towards an alternative. I will also contend that even if the prior logic was ignored, there would still be no benefit to blindly believing in god. To begin, one should consider the immeasurable improbability of the existence of god. The simple fact is, there is no reliable evidence that supports the existence of a divine being that created the universe. To advise that one should believe in god is to advise that one should hold a belief without evidence. While this is never advisable, in the absence of evidence it is at the very least understandable. The issue is that evidence does exist, and to promote faith while denying the belief that all evidence supports is completely illogical. Take for example, evolution as opposed to intelligent design. While evolution is supported by an enormous amount of fossil, embryonic, genetic and various other forms of evidence, intelligent design is supported by a roughly two thousand year old book that endorses things like a virgin birth, resurrection and a ten-to-six thousand year old earth (not reliable evidence) [1]. Not only is it illogical to advise people to believe in god, if it were actually done, there is no benefit as opposed to leading a good life. This leads on to the following argument. I'm going to move forward with the assumption that should a benevolent god exist they will reward any who live a good life regardless of the individual's faith. This is not a random claim. Imagine for a moment a ‘faithful' rapist and an atheist who has lived a good life and left behind a positive legacy stand before the gate of ‘heaven'. It isn't conceivable that a benevolent god would grant the rapist infinite happiness while sentencing the atheist to eternal torment based entirely off ones ‘faith', as opposed to their actions and virtues. This reasoning leads off to the so called ‘Atheist's Wager' [2]. It reasons that as long as a person leads a good life, the outcome will be positive. The wager can be summarised in the following passage. If a person does not believe in god, and a benevolent god exists, he will judge the person based on their actions and virtues. If a person does not believe in god, and no god exists, the person will be remembered fondly by those you leave behind due to the good life you have led. And if a person does not believe in god, and a non-benevolent god (one that judges a person based on their ‘faith') exists, then they not only leave behind a positive legacy, but will have the eternal satisfaction of knowing that they did not spend their life worshipping a hateful and vengeful being. To put it another way [3], with the options of living a good/evil life and belief/non-belief in god coupled with the existence of a benevolent/no benevolent god, one will arrive at eight possible outcomes. They are:* If you live a good life, believe in god, and a benevolent god exists, you will go to heaven: infinite gain* If you live a good life, do not believe in god, and a benevolent god exists, you will go to heaven: infinite gain* If you live an evil life, believe in god, and a benevolent god exists, you will go to hell: infinite loss* If you live an evil life, do not believe in god, and a benevolent god exists, you will go to hell: infinite * If you live a good life, believe in god, and no benevolent god exists, you leave a positive legacy: finite gain* If you live a good life, do not believe in god, and no benevolent god exists, you leave a positive legacy: finite gain* If you live an evil life, believe in god, and no benevolent god exists, you leave a negative legacy: finite loss* If you live an evil life, do not believe in god, and no benevolent god exists, you leave a negative legacy: finite lossThese possibilities can be represented by the following tables [3]. A benevolent god exists Belief in god (B) No belief in god (¬B) Good life (L) +∞ (heaven) +∞ (heaven) Evil life (¬L) -∞ (hell) -∞ (hell) No benevolent god exists Belief in god (B) No belief in god (¬B) Good life (L) +X (positive legacy) +X (positive legacy) Evil life (¬L) -X (negative legacy) -X (negative legacy) It is clearly evident that from these possibilities, leading a good life will result in a positive outcome irrespective of belief. As a belief in god is illogical, as well as lacking of any benefits, it can in no way be advisable. [1] The God Delusion – By Richard Dawkins (Specifically Chapter 4)[2] . http://www.philosophyofreligion.info...[3] . http://en.wikipedia.org...'s_Wager (Formatting refuses to recognise anything after the apostophe in 'Atheist's'. Since that is the link however, please insert 's_Wager on the end to get to the right place. (Tedious, but I can't see a way around it. )Good luck.