My parents taught me about Hell and I think that played a great part in me becoming an alcoholic. But I don't demonize them for it. They were just passing along what they had been taught. They would have felt remiss if they hadn't. They were just as much a victim as I was. I don't play the blame game. I do not feel proud of my skepticism, but rather, grateful. I look to the future and ask what I might do to be the catalyst in someone else's life, to help in their awakening.

Controlling through fear is the act of totalitarianism. But,that's religion for you. They don't want cognitive understanding. They want mindless puppets.

To introduce the notion of hell and eternal damnation in the minds of children and adults is nothing other than a prison for the mind that is advocated by those who like to instil fear and control others.

He's awesome.

I disagree. I think it’s important to provide alternative points of view. Otherwise, you’re doing exactly what the dogmatists are doing, just in reverse.

Absolutely. No question about it.

The concept of heaven and hell, as opposed to the house of God, only dates back to the 2nd century. The idea behind it was to create a carrot and stick model of reward and punishment in the afterlife, for the purposes of political control over the people. It is on some level a little bit clever, in as much as it is predicated on the notion that all of your behaviours are observed by an unseen god and you can get away with nothing. As a concept it has one advantage over the previous system in which reward and punishment took place in this life, specifically it reduced the necessity for the death penalty over minor infractions, since now is possible to be punished after death. As a means of controlling behaviour it does however have one significant drawback, in order for the heaven and hell hypothesis to work in reforming criminal activities, the concept of forgiveness through repentance is a necessary component, and therein lies the rub. Because you can be forgiven by repenting, it is possible for the devout criminal to imagine that he or she holds some form of divine get out of jail free card, since even minor punishment here on earth can wash their Souls clean. Therefore, since they can be absolved through repentance, they imagine they can look forward to an eternity of pleasure in heaven despite their crimes as a result of earthly incarceration and repentance. Thus the inspiration for being good for its own sake, for being good to create a better Society for ones children and grandchildren here on Earth, and of genuine fear of earthly incarceration is lost. This is precisely why over 95% of the prison population is religious, it is also why atheists make up less than one half of 1% of the prison population.

very good comment, thanks for posting.

Yea, he's the shit. Gotta keep those kids brainwashed. Its child abuse.

Totally agree