Why does it bother Atheists when people tell them they're going to hell, if they don't think hell is real?

Question

As per here http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20070120110200AA2ChE6&r=w&pa=FZptHWf.BGRX3OFMhz1WUlV1SIb23dMJAFm3zR4m95bmkVRE5wuR0ln8H.4ChiU9INxUIcvQhF.UkSmigg--&paid=answered#TMEpD2a4UGL0EyBYQ8FCA1W6.R_VRp09PJkI3zQH6hLUE4vFl.jo
Boy this question gets asked a lot. Atheists - can you help them understand why it's offensive to be consigned to a hell even if you don't believe in it?

Answer 1

Well, I'm a polytheist, but it drives me crazy, too, so I'll chime in also, if you don't mind. This is a hard one to explain. This falls under the category of trying to explain to people why proving there is a god by use of the Bible does not work on people who don't follow the Bible.

I don't want to hear about the fact that I'm going to Hell because to insist that I am, is to insist that they're right, without even proving it first. It's also incredibly presumptuous for any person to comment on the state of a soul of another human being. Tend your own garden, you know?

OK let's try this. Christians who think I am going to Hell, this is for you. You're NOT going to Heaven. You're going to the underworld with the rest of us. And since you didn't make offerings to the gods of the underworld, it's gonna suck to be you. (said with a smug look on my face.) See why this is a little irritating?

Answer 2

I am not an Atheist, quite the opposite; however, I think that I might take it as a compliment coming from a Christian that you are going to Hell...haha....since Hell is pretty much defined as a place without God. Theoretically an Atheist is already in Hell or something very similar to it.

But if I was an Atheist, I'd be pissed too. Stereotypically, I think that most Christians tend to associate Hell with "BAD" people. Just because you don't believe does not necessarily make you a bad person...it just makes you a non-believer. And that's tough stuff to deal with...basically, someone pointing a hypocritical finger of blame at you for which they really have grounds. Yeah, definately would get a little irate.

Answer 3

I am agnostic but I will answer anyway because I also do not believe in hell but still find someone telling me I am going to go there offensive.... The reason has nothing to do with the belief or disbelief in hell, it has everything to do with the implications behind the concept. When someone tells me I am going to hell because I don't believe in god, and I am a sinner etc.. I am offended because it implies I do not live a life worth anything, it suggests I have no morals, no purpose and that all the good I have done in this life means nothing, counts for nothing and that I will be punished for being a good person just because I dont believe there is a god. Thats what insults me... not the fact that they are consigning me to a place I dont believe in and they do, but rather because it implies that I am not a good person unless I believe in god... that to me is rude and makes me think if there is a god who would really do that, even if I had proof of his existence I would still deny him entry into my heart on principle because I believe that people are still good even if they dont believe and that shouldnt condemn them to eternal suffering.

Answer 4

The question might better be whether it bothers atheists when people tell them they're going to Hell. (Note the initial capital)

One might as well ask whether it bothers Christians when someone tells them that Santa is not real.

Here's where most of the Christians go awry: Christians believe in God. We are neurologically predisposed, we humans, to assume that everyone thinks the way we do. So, believers believe that non-believers believe.

They don't believe. That's a difficult idea to grasp for one for whom God is the ground of being, the sine qua non of existence. Believers have a terribly hard time even imagining that there are those who truly don't believe, so they suspect that the belief is there, just hiding under pretence of unbelief.

This is the same sort of logic that leads people to believe that should they suddenly wake a Frenchman in the middle of the night he will speak English.

Answer 5

The claim goes that it's an expression of concern. And perhaps sometimes it is. But mostly it's expressed in a very smug way that indicates the sayer's arrogance at their own entitlement to a better afterlife, compared with a correspondingly dreadful one for the atheist. It's like saying to someone "I hope you get cancer". It won't actually make the slightest difference to whether or not that person will get cancer, but it's an expression of hatred. The assertion that an atheist will go to hell, while nonsense (for hell does not exist) is an expression of hate of a similar order.

Answer 6

I was prompted to answer ur question even though I'm not an atheist, I'm a believer, but I also believe that hell only exists when u r apart from God in mind, body, and spirit. There is no other hell than not being with God and knowing His great love for us all and the Universe.

Answer 7

Because regardless of the words, it's the reason behind the words that we find offensive. They believe that since we don't agree with their views, we will be punished.

Now let's say that a person made up a new religion, of which had a similar place as hell, but instead called it the plane of oubliette, which means a place of forgetting. Everyone who didn't believe that he was right, he would say that they would suffer on the plane of oubliette. You believe that the plane of oubliette doesn't exist, but wouldn't you still find it offensive to hear a person tell you that you're going to the plane of oubliette for not agreeing with them?

Answer 8

In other terms, it means that you think the person is of lesser value in the universal scope of things and is not worthy of the same rewards as those who have a particular set of beliefs. Also, from a Christians point of view is not for the christian to make those judgments, it is gods. If you are passing that judgment as a christian you are not only expressing a hateful demise, but you are being a hypocrite as well. If I told a Christian that they were risking a more severe form of senility because of their refusal to use their brain in a heathy and balanced way, I think they would take it as an insult.

Answer 9

For the same reason Christians get bent out of shape when the "heathens" constantly tell them their God doesn't exist, even though they DO believe in him.

It's an incorrect assumption about my life and choices coming from someone that cannot comprehend them and is in no position to pass judgement. However, most non-Christians WERE followers of God at one point, and we DO understand their side of things. We have simply chosen not to follow it.

Logically, that makes non-Christians better equipped to offer objective reasoning to the discussion, but all we get in response are canned answers and quoted scripture instead of insightful conclusions.

Answer 10

It's a tough one to pinpoint. I'd say that the reason has to do with listening. As soon as they pull this one out on us, discussion is closed. It's condescending and a total brushoff and lack of respect for our beliefs. Additionally, the argument itself is flawed. Do people honestly expect that such a fear can lead to genuine trust and belief?

As an analogy, if I tried to perpetuate the belief that black people are an intellectually inferior race incapable of intellectually matching white people, I'd get my *** kicked. Why? I mean people no longer accept this as true, so what do they have to get mad about? They'd be mad because it's insulting and ignorant, and they wouldn't want to risk the chance of my infecting impressionable children (or adults) with such nonsense.