You left about 17 years before I did but I've still been out of organized religion a long time. It doesn't mean I don't still like intelligent conversation about a lot of things, religion included.

Technically, we don't have a "belief." Beliefs are like apps on a computer. Belief in God is just an app installed on some (most) hard drives that we don't have on ours.

I don't think anyone here is afraid of hell, I think they're just working what is really going on. There's a certain dogma among non-theists that says it's somehow wrong and/or superstitious to consider life's mystery. But many of the posts I read are people doing just that... considering the mystery. And it's mysterious. And it means doing some exploring, checking out the landscape, and considering that "There are more things in heaven and Earth, Horatio, Than are dreamt of in your philosophy."

In the words of the poet: "Life is a mystery / Everyone must stand alone / I hear you call my name / And it feels like home"

I have often thought of the knowledge of our own immortality is a hell . . .glad someone voiced that view, too.

Well said...

Hell only exists in the mind. Not unreal but the pain experienced doesn't require external factors to feel like you're in hell. The mind can generate heaven or hell regardless of the physical surrounding us.

This trump administration sure has been hell for many of us.