The Atheist's wager, coined by the philosopher Michael Martin and published in his 1990 book Atheism: A Philosophical Justification, is an atheistic response to Pascal's wager regarding the existence of God.
[1] One version of the Atheist's wager suggests that since a kind and loving god would reward good deeds – and that if no gods exist, good deeds would still leave a positive legacy – one should live a good life without religion.
[2][3] Another formulation suggests that a god may reward honest disbelief and punish a dishonest belief in the divine.
[4] Martin's wager states that if one were to analyze their options in regard to how to live their life, they would arrive at the following possibilities:[2][5] The following table shows the values assigned to each possible outcome: Given these values, Martin argues that the option to live a good life clearly dominates the option of living an evil life, regardless of belief in a god.
Whether one believes in god has no effect on the outcome.