I rather thought this was obvious, but the persistence of a certain argument makes me think that as tedious as it might be, I should address it again.
I hear, all the time, that many Christian fundamentalists and religious authoritarians are “good people,” with whom we only have a theological disagreement.
No.
It is simply irrefutable that people who believe that the vast majority of people deserve to be tortured are not good people.
Torture is a war crime in every civilized nation. In fact, making torture illegal is one of the things that distinguishes an advanced civilization.
If you genuinely believe in Hell, and that people go there because they do not agree with your religious perspective, and you believe that this is just, or that a being who allows this is worthy of worship, you are an ambulate moral corpse. The idea that anyone deserves to be eternally tortured, or, importantly, that you should allow them to be eternally tortured for a “lack of faith,” or for any other reason is about as hideous a belief as can be imagined. It is something beyond unfair, beyond unjust.
And all other injustices, from inquisitions to blacklists can be, have been, and are justified by it.
From the quotidian – the parent who punishes a child for demonstrating insufficient piety, to the religious court that imprisons, tortures and executes people for heresy, these crimes, and many crimes to come are justified by claiming that souls will be saved from Hell thereby.
Watching apologists turn triple-twisting semantic backflips to get around this obvious problem would be amusing if it didn't do so much harm throughout history. You want to argue that your god doesn't send people to Hell, that he (and it's always he) wants everyone to be saved? Very well, we are talking about a being that is, arguendo, incapable of error, aware of everything, even to the most private thoughts of everyone, and who simply willed the Universe into existence. If it was truly your god's will that everyone should be saved, why not save them? It's not part of the Plan? Change the plan. Who's going to stop you?
The free will dodge simply won't work here. If Hell is a reality, free will simply doesn't exist any more than a victim who hands over their wallet to a robber with a knife to their throat did so as an act of “free will.” That which is done under threat is, obviously, not an exercise of free will, and what threat is more dire than eternal torture? The very idea of Hell makes truly moral decision making impossible. You are not good if you act because you fear destruction if you don't act as the destroyer thinks you should.
You god says, “Love me, do as I say, or I will torture you (or allow you to be tortured) forever.” How is that moral in any way?
And when someone worships that, they are not a good person.
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What is completely bizarre to me is the BINARY concept of heaven and hell. No one is ALL good or all bad. Hopefully, most of us are growing in goodness throughout our lives as we understand more about other people and our world.
But then, one day, you must be sent one direction or the other? There are some infamous villains who might be easy to judge but what about regular people? Will I go to hell for stealing a cassette tape from Walmart when I was in 6th grade? How about for physically fighting with my younger brother? Do only adult transgressions count? Should I worry about spreading a little gossip or is that heaven-permissible? What if the gossip was about a priest?
What if our earthly justice system specified that any and all crimes would be punished with life in prison? Binary on earth as it is in heaven?
How would a supreme being grant us complicated lives only to reduce us to a single category of innocent or guilty at death? Please don’t give me some purgatory bullshit as a response. If the afterlife is infinite, why would a pit stop on the way to infinity be relevant?
It’s just a dumb idea, upon which entire civilizations have apparently been founded!
Wow! I’ve never thought about hell in this way before. It’s a unique perspective.