Atheists: Are You Afraid of Hell?

Question

Don't get me wrong, I'm not some jerk theist trying to "save" people. I'm a 17 year old kid thats decided to give up organized religon, and possibly become an atheist when I move out of my parent's house.

I recently read both Dawkin's and Hitchen's books, and am really liking the sounds of atheism, I have always been a logical person and am pursuing a degree in Science next year (Science = opposite of religon). But still, I can't help but fear eternal damnation. I was raised Muslim, but the concept of monothesium and an afterlife are still there like in Christianity, and the idea of Hell seems universal. Perphaps because it has been beaten into me for so many years, I have trouble accepting this illogical place.

My question to atheists is this. Do you fear Hell? If you were brought up religous, was there like a grace period where you feared hell, like a long process toward's atheism, or did you just give it up easily , without second thought.

Thanks in advance for any help :)

Answer 1

That is a good question.

I was raised Christian. I never believed in God -- but I sure feared hell. I remember my mom having a recording of me when I was in pre-school telling another kid (for at least five minutes) that he was going to burn in hell for cussing.

For me, I think hell was more effective because it was more real. What's heaven? It's tough to imagine some floaty perfection. But I can grasp the concept of eternal torture. I see torture in the news. I know what it's like to experience pain.

But the gospel of hell isn't enough to stick with a religion.

If I were to fabricate a religion, I'd hit them right in the gut where they feel it -- I'd make it visceral -- I'd give them blood and torture. Heaven is too ethereal. You can't taste heaven. I'd give them hell. And then use hell to sell heaven.

Answer 2

i was raised christian, catholic to be specific. I got indoctrinated into the guilt culture and eternal damnation and not only that, i indoctrinated people into that whole culture. At about age 21, i could no longer hide my despise for the sexism in religion, the arrogance of "our god" and the threat of hell. Why would anyone ever give a loved one such an ultimatum: do what i want, whether you like it or not, or go to hell. So anyway, i decided that not even for the sake of saving myself from eternal damnation will i worship such a god. The reality of it was that my dislike for the religion was greater than any threat including hell. That was a small price for me to pay in my books. As time went on i realized that hell is fictional and that it is a tactic to keep people indoctrinated into the religion.
Point being, i didn't fear hell even when i believed in it because hell was better to me than to live a life i hated and feared and to worship such a god. I thought I would make my choice (of my own free will) and embrace the consequences

Answer 3

I wasn't raised as anything in my family, so my parents always gave me a choice to choose whatever I wanted to be - Jewish, Muslim, whatever. As I grew older, I realized that religion didn't play a very big part in my life, and I didn't mind. Then I read in a few anthropology books about how religion evolved - I discovered (and this is My Humble Opinion speaking) that Heaven and Hell were just places created by the public consciousness as things to do after death. I don't fear Hell - I don't believe there ever was one.

Answer 4

Even if hell were a place, your body remains on earth--as does your brain and your ability to feel pain in the first place.

So...it's not really torture if you can't feel anything.

I didn't really fear hell because I never really believed in religion. I gave a half-hearted attempt to as a kid, but I was a lot more content playing with my Barbie than sitting through a church. Church was something I had to attend through choice with friends or another family member, because my parents, both atheists, refused to force me into anything (and they didn't want to attend church themselves).

It is, however, perfectly rational for those who were raised in religious backgrounds to fear hell. It's been ingrained into you since birth, I'd be willing to bet...Hell is bad, it is eternal suffering in a fiery pit, etc., etc. But the concept of hell is very similar to the concept of heaven. They keep your souls (NOT your bodies), they are eternal, they are ruled by superpowerful beings of mighty-ness, and they are both most likely fiction. However, since souls most likely don't exist, your don't go anywhere after you die. Imagine the complete non-awareness you experience while you're asleep (and not dreaming). That is probably like dying.

Answer 5

I know it said atheist, but i couldn't resist. I don't belong to any major religon if that helps and i'm not trying to dissuade you.

Anyway, it's hard to fear hell when you don't believe it exists. The way I see it is if you're going to worhship something, you do it with love, not fear. If all you have left from your religon is a fear of hell, then that's not a god you're connecting with and not one you should be worshipping. I think your fear is ingrained and will go away with time.

ps. science doesn't have to be the opposite of religion. I have a religion, and I love science. Physics rocks. : ) Nothing about my faith contradicts science and vice versa.

Answer 6

I'm ethnically Jewish, so I was going to hell anyways for not believing in Jesus and all that. :-) So atheism wasn't a very big jump.

My parents never pressured any religion on me. We celebrated holidays secularly. So when I looked at the world, I didn't see any particular reason for there to be a heaven or a hell or a god for that matter. Even as a little kid, I didn't bother to think about the afterlife. Even if there is one, I think its better to live life as if it didn't exist.

Answer 7

As an ex-Christian I'm very clear on what I've rejected as untrue, and what Christianity says will happen to me if I'm wrong about that.
So I didn't decide on that lightly. I had be be very clear on the non-existence of God and thus hell.

But longstanding beliefs, even if no longer held, do tend to leave a mark. Old habits...
(I still tend to think of atoms as nice round balls nestling together, and I learnt better than that a long tiime ago.)

Answer 8

One can not fear what one does not believe exists..

I don't believe deity(s) exist nor do I believe heaven or hell exist, I also do not believe there is an afterlife..

I was brought up in a very religious family.. I however never bought into it.. Even as a child being told numerous times in church that I was destine for hell if I didn't change my ways it never scared me.

Answer 9

It was a concept given to the Jews by the Greeks and then expounded upon by Jesus and later really gone into detail by Daunte -

It is a good method of control It is the ultimate of threats

All the church has ever sought to do is control and govern

Thats just what they do by any means possible

The evolution of ideology in the bible is a good way to rid yourself of these evil idea's that the Christians have gone out of their way to plant in your head

Once you see how the consepts came about over centuries then it becomes plain what the game is really all about

Answer 10

i grew up a christian and was pretty devoted to it during my highschool years (pretty much wanted to be the BEST CHRISTIAN i could possibly be at the time) and when i became atheist i did feel like i had to be afraid of hell since i wasn't use to suddenly believing that the concept of hell, heaven, or any afterlife didn't exist. we're pretty much raised into thinking that there is a hell or heaven so our instinct is to be afraid of the concept of hell. if you were raised your ENTIRE LIFE thinking 1+1= 3 and everyone around you also believed that and told you that.... you'd be baffled and have some challenge into converting yourself into thinking 1+1 actually equals to 2. its kind of like that...but after awhile you get it....you dont feel afraid of something you've accepted doesn't exist....esp when there is no actual evidence for its existance.