Videos: Your threats of hell mean nothing

Your threats of hell mean nothing

22 August 2009

ZJ: For some reason, people really love to tell me that I'm going to hell, that I'm going to burn in hell, that I'm going to burn in hell forever, that sort of thing. I hear this on a daily basis now. And I have to ask these people: Do you understand what atheism means? I don't think you do.

You see, I am not a follower of your religion. I do not believe your god exists, and I do not believe hell exists. That's why telling me I'm going to hell is a meaningless statement. For this to be an effective argument, it would require that I share your belief in hell, which I do not. And that is why it has no impact.

For example, the Qur'an, Islam's primary religious text, contains dozens of verses stating that disbelievers will face doom. A painful doom, a fiery doom, a dreadful doom, many different kinds of doom await those who do not follow Islam.

Now, if you're not a Muslim, does the threat of doom concern you? Presumably it does not. Why not? That's right: because you don't believe in that religion. And your concept of hell is no different from the perspective of someone who doesn't follow your religion. It doesn't bother me in the slightest.

So whether you're trying to warn me, persuade me, or frighten me, the threat of hell is an empty one. For there to be any substance to this threat, I would have to already believe in what you're trying to convince me of. And if I did, you probably wouldn't be trying to convince me anyway.

You should also consider that hell, as a punishment, is so disproportionate that it makes a mockery of the concept of justice. Many denominations of Christianity portray hell as a state of terrible suffering and torture that never ends, ever. So, what could someone possibly do to deserve this? Well, existing, to start with. Allegedly, people are born into a default state of sinfulness that makes them deserving of hell. Worshipping any gods other than the Christian god, or no gods at all, is also viewed as grounds for eternal torture, along with lying, adultery, theft, and murder.

Now, what does it take to avoid hell? Supposedly all you have to do is accept that Jesus is God, and ask him to forgive you for everything bad you've ever done, like being born, and you're good to go!

Does anyone else see something very, very wrong with this? Here we have the absolute worst punishment possible, and this is imposed for something so simple and inoffensive as exercising your personal freedom of and from religion. And because hell is the only punishment, there is no sense of proportion whatsoever. Everything from nonbelief to dishonesty to killing someone is viewed as equally deserving of eternal torture. This is like imposing the death penalty for jaywalking.

And the idea that this extreme punishment can be avoided by merely apologizing and believing in the right god only serves to further illustrate what a travesty of justice this is. Why should something so significant hinge on something so trivial? When a Christian mass murderer can avoid hell while a well-behaved atheist burns forever, how could anyone believe that justice has been served? There is no legal system in the world that would operate on these ridiculous premises, because it would utterly fail to offer anything resembling justice. So why does your religion accept anything less?

It does not speak well of your god that he would allow this, and it does not speak well of you that you would choose to worship this god. Hell is an extremely unappealing feature of your religion, and it's not going to convince people to believe in your god. If anything, this repulsive concept will only drive them away—as it should.

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