Do Atheists believe in Hell ?

Question

Well, it may be so. If your child was killed by a pedophile.....
And he got life in prison, with no parole. Without the
death penalty. Being incarcerated alone to you, may not
be enough. Would you feel, that there is a sense of
validation, by not having that particualr person punished,
in a much harsher way ? Besides, it is not likely, that you
the Atheist, would be able to do something, or get justice,
the best way possible. Lets say, tear that murderer
apart...... Can't do that, because he is in prison.....
Anyway, there is a place called Hell. And it would
probably be very fitting, from a human being's perspective,
to be punished severely. Since you do not believe in such
a place, Hell, how would you even begin to have a sense
of validation. Knowing, that person is getting off lightly.
Because death itself, is not enough. For that horrible man,
or woman. So do you the Atheist, believe in this underworld,
called Hell ? Answer here.

Hey Acid Zebra. Nice to see you
again. What an avatar.....

Answer 1

I am an atheist, I do not believe in hell or heaven or any other sort of afterlife, and I cannot make any sense of the rest of your question. If someone commits an offense he is to be convicted, that's it.

Answer 2

No, I don't believe in hell. Locking a pedophile up is our society's way of dealing with it and I abide by the law. I would take a real interest in that person's parole possibilities and do whatever I could to prevent them having the opportunity to hurt anyone else. Mostly though rather than vengence I would hope I would focus on healing with my child if they lived or loving my remaining children and helping them emotionally overcome the experience. I don't think over dwelling on my hate for the person who hurt them would be helpful.

I don't think believing in a mythological place to satisfy my need for revenge and vengence is a reasonable thing to base belief on. Because I don't maybe that is why peace and justice in this life are so important to me and I don't think that is a bad thing. In Christian beliefs its not just people like your pedophile in hell or Hitler, etc... It is also people like Gandhi, Carl Sagan, Albert Einstein, my mother, etc... who were generally wonderful people who just chose different paths and didn't worship the Christian God or Savior figures. I think this is injustice and not something I find palatable or believable about a just, loving God figure even if there were one.

Answer 3

You religious people can be so vengeful, can't you. Despite the line 'let he without sin cast the first stone'.

Most people who come to their own moral conclusion have decided that a criminal should be treated with respect. Their rights as a human does not diminish because of a criminal history.

Rehabilitation and a compassionate community where people actually care about the individual's re-introduction to a stable lifestyle is what counts.

We don't call for vengeance, but rather we call for progress so that the offender can cease criminality.

Life isn't fair, your God doesn't step in with a sweeping judgement, the ball is in the humanists court. No person, criminal or not deserves an eternity of vicious wrath. The very longing for that type of recrimination is evil in itself.

Answer 4

Absolutely not. Neither Heaven or Hell exist. Ok, maybe Hell does exist. Existentialist author Jean Paul Sartre wrote, "Hell is other people."

What the Asker describes is something a lot like Pascal's Wager.

Christians sometimes proffer Pascal’s Wager (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pascal%27s_wager ) suggesting to non-believers that they should accept Jesus (per John 3:16) as some sort of insurance policy against hell, just in case it turns out god really exists. The fallacy with this line of reasoning is that faith in god for some reward or to avoid punishment is no faith at all. It is a selfish act to receive something in return for a belief. The whole point of religious belief is so that one can become a better person or achive spiritual enlightenment, not to receive a reward or please a spiritual being.

Answer 5

Not at all. I'm not in the habit of inventing things because I felt wronged or denied justice.

If I listen to the Christian's version of that wishful place for bad people, then I would also have to believe the following:

1. The man that raped me will be there burning right next to me, a school teacher who never hurt anyone in her life, never lied, and never stole, yet gets to burn in eternity with a rapist because she didn't follow a Bronze Age Middle-Eastern religion that promoted misogyny.

2. All the Jews that were burned by Christian Nazis would be burning again, but the Christian Nazis, if they repented, would be in Heaven enjoying awesomeness.

3. Hang on, what a load of BS. Sorry.

Sometimes justice doesn't get done. It's all relative anyway. Some religions seek compensation for the damages, some seek revenge, some seek imprisonment. Some seek death.

Read Romans 13 and then read about Stalin. Get back to me when you've invented something better...

Answer 6

I don't think vengeance is a legitimate form of justice.

Personally, I think life in prison without the possibility of parole is sufficient punishment for nearly any action. That is because I don't believe that there is an afterlife, and so the punishment for his/her action is essentially taking away everything he/she has.

Regardless, I think people who perform vicious actions generally deserve treatment and education rather than punishment (although there are some who need to be removed from society for society's sake).

Answer 7

Why are you so unaware of what an atheist is?! ATHEIST - somebody who does no longer have faith in a God – any God – no longer in user-friendly terms the Christian one. yet that does no longer recommend they do no longer carry reliable ethical or non secular ideals! they are able to persist with any faith that does no longer have a god and there are various those! Like BUDDHISM – non secular coaching from Buddha and his followers that by potential of destroying greed, hatred and delusion (the reason of all suffering) guy can attain suitable enlightenment! the place do you think of christianity have been provided that is recommendations of a soul and afterlife from for goodness sake? They stole it from the pagan tribes and peoples which existed 1000's and 1000's of years until now christianity! From the stone age with the aid of vikings, Egyptians, Maoris, Aborigines, American Indians and fantastically the chinese language, all of them had complex funerals and grave products to hurry the soul into the subsequent existence with convenience!

Answer 8

Swearing is what the word hell, is for.
Other than that it does not exist.
A man did molest my children
He was sentenced to six years in prison! Not nearly enough..
What I approve of however, is once in prison, when the other inmates found out why he was there?, showed HIM, was it was like, to be molested.
Now, if that sounds cold, and harsh?, well so be it. My children are grown, now, and my daughter still suffers from the side affects, of being repeatedly molested.
And my son, is an alcoholic.
The man was my sister's husband, and my children's uncle, and, they should have been safe with him, instead of being his victims.

Answer 9

No.. We don't believe in God or hell..
What a horrible situation.. but still.. no hell - the fact he is in prison is fitting as can be.. I don't think any punishment (even the idea of hell) could make the loss of a child easier.. I don't approve of death penalty either btw..

Answer 10

I dont' believe in hell. Even if God exists, why would he allow there to be hell where someone suffers for eternity? Who created hell? God? I thought he was all good. Hell just doesn't make sense...and if you look at the translation from greek or hebrew, hell is mistranslated to mean something that it's not.

Hell is here on earth, IMO

Answer 11

Nope they don't.

And that pedophile can get out of jail in 5 years ( the sentencing for pedophiles is short, expect for those states that passed Jessica law), and basically mock the victim's family anonymously online. Better yet a killer that served their time can walk out of prison not giving a damn and he can even say something cruel about the victims family on public TV. That is his constitutional right to freedom of speech. I don't know how an atheist will handle that situation when they don't believe in hell.