When I was a kid and sleeping on the sofa sometimes, the JEHOVAH WITNESSES came over! Mom had them in, just like the Avon Lady and Fuller Brush Man. It really cracked me up hearing this coffee clatch go on for hours!

Just laugh and tell them I don't believe in myths. And I prefer warm climates.

Uncontrollable laughter followed by a thank you for the hilarity!

It's a meaningless threat.

I just move on.

Ha ha ha ha...

I laugh, say "whatever", or tell them to get lost.

I laugh and tell them how stupid that is.

I just smile and say"OK".

I say the very same to them as I say to the phone scammers who threaten to turn off my internet...Good fuckin luck with that...lol

I normally just laugh.

I have lived my life in service of others. If that is meaningless because I don't serve others AND believe, then I am morally superior to God who chose to hide himself.

I remind them of what Machiavelli said “I desire to go to Hell and not to Heaven. In the former I shall enjoy the company of popes, kings and princes, while in the latter are only beggars, monks and apostles."

I tend to remind them that per their religion, all the people who think like me get sent there anyway and it beats the fuck outta being a slave to their ‘benevolent ruler’ who doesn’t stop horrible things from happening...

Though, what irks me more are the people who assume their religion into you while proselytizing. I usually argue in favor of Satan, he’s a way cooler literary character anyway.

I check in with myself to see if the threat is creating an emotional response with in me. Much of my religious indoctrination from childhood is still present in the form of 4F responses, so I have to do ongoing emotional work to process these triggers.

After that, I try to understand why they are making this threat. Many times, I conclude it is that my position (an anti-theist) is subconsciously threatening to them. Many of the ego defenses created by those indoctrinated by religion are designed to protect them from the truth of their own situation. This means that reasoning with them is not going to be a productive exercise as I am reasoning and they are expressing an "invisible" ego defense. If I decide to engage in a response, then it is usually through trying to direct the conversation back to how they came to believe such emotionally traumatizing lies. While this usually results in an even more aggressive ego response, I attempt to create an association with their childhood experiences rather than quibbling over the details of the ridiculous religious belief in question (hell, sin, omnipotent beings, etc). Ego defenses are easy to spot and should not be accepted as rational responses, but cannot be easily outed due to their influence over the owner. It is tricky at best, a waste of time at worst.

In short, I was traumatized as a child into believing these lies by my caregiver, and did so for years. Free of it now, I attempt alert them to the reality that they are also in that situation. The religious are trapped in a psychologically powerful illusion reinforced by their tribe. To say no to your religion many times is to reject your friends and family. It is also to accept the true nature of your upbringing, the toxic shame present in your body, the reality that your caregivers harmed you with these lies, and grief the years of shame and mental entrapment you have suffered.

Hahha

Just reply hmmmmm ill have to tell the lads that at my local LODGE............
watch them run away

In person, if it is just some random religious person, I laugh at them.
To not be disrespectful to my mother in law I sat and talked to her. I asked if she wanted to Know why I thought that 'religious punishment" was ludicrous. She did. I told her all my 'biggest' reasons I was an atheist and pointed to 5 verses in the bible she didn't even know existed. I lent her "A Manual for Creating Atheists" by Peter Boghossian. I asked her to read it and let me know what she thought.
What she thought was. "I didn't know most of that, but at 82 I don't want to give up on the idea of heaven"

To a rare few I say since Jeffrey Dalmer, David Berkowitz, Michael Bruce Ross as well as thousand upon thousands of murderers, rapist and pedophiles had repented and accepted god - if they want to go hang with them go for It, I'd rather be with David Bowie, John Lennon, Elton John, ( who will go cuz he's gay) Gene Rodenberry, Charles Shultz, Carl Segan etc..

Prove it, show me or get the fuck outta my way!

Yah my father and grandpa and I where eating dinner- they where on the what if they made you take the mark of the beat- abd im like if I do that and I don't have a choice I go to hell- well if im aleady going to hell I rather commit suicide then at least it would be my choice- lol they didnt find that amusing haha

I laugh inside, but usually smile and thank them for their unchristian comments. If their religion (like all religions) taught their peace and loving philosophy, then treating me with eternal punishment shows how unloving they truly are.

My reply is as to any other paper tiger " Oh "

I consider the very mention of a hell as a violent threat. You claim to believe in a god who's message is "I love you and don't want you to go to hell but if you don't believe in me and worship me you force me to send you there."
It is sick not to recognize that as doing harm.
I have a very strong aversion to the concept of hell even though I was lucky enough to had not been subjected to it as a kid, guess that's why I'm an atheist, this abuse was not used on me and it sickens me to see it still being used so blindly by those who did suffer it's threat.

Ahahahahaha! Bye.

I say "looking forward to it" or usually when they tell me im going to hell "ive got a 1st class ticket, wanna come?" or my favorite, "well I guess I better make it worth it then"
also I point out any number of things that are equivalent in there gods eyes to my minor offence

My usual response is, "I'll save you a seat by the fire" , and then walk away.