Hell is as false and ridiculous idea as heaven. Fear is the best proselytizing weapon of western religions. But for a real atheist once you die you will have a pleasant sleep just like the one before you were born...We do not live forever, that's it.

Go on a trip with Dante and Vergil. That will bring the paranoia back. But there is a happy ending which makes the journey worthwhile.

You have to put yourself into the mind of an Italian medieval mercantile or politician for it to work though.

I guess I'm the only one here who as a child had any fear of Hell, and who harbored any of that into young adulthood. Good for everyone else, but bad for those of us who have had to deal with that irrational, pathological fear. I was brought up in a fire-and-brimstone household and was taught hardcore medieval Catholicism from the time I was old enough to understand simple, sing-song prayers (e.g., "Now I lay me down to sleep…" ). I was told that God would never again destroy the world in flood, but rather the next cleansing would be in the form of fire. Yeah, my starting point was that God would burn us all via scorched Earth to rid the world of us; strap in, as we haven't even gotten to the Hell portion of our programming yet. So, why did I bring up that prayer? Oh, I'm so glad you asked! You see, I was just three or four years old and wanted to know what it meant — soul to keep, die before I wake, soul to take — and my mother proceeded to tell me all about death and how, through the magic of prayer, I was asking to be taken to Heaven instead of allowing the Devil to take me to Hell, as he lay in wait for me to inflict all manner of torture and punishment upon me, where I would burn forever without relief. Hey, if you want to keep your kids in line there's no better way than a little eternal torment looming overhead, am I right? So — funny story — I spent many nights crying myself to sleep, afraid that my prayers would fail at some point to ward off Satan and that he'd eventually drag me to his fiery torture pit. Typical kid stuff, y'know? Fast forward to college when I could no longer square the circle of deontological Catholic theological teaching and a more consequentialist view of how we should live (long story, but suffice to say I didn't accept or respect the view that an abortion in the midst of a medical emergency that would leave no survivors was forbidden when it could allow the woman's life to be saved). This, along with understanding how so much of Catholicism had obviously been formed by humans, many sacred beliefs put to a vote, how scripture was the ultimate in begging the question as it was selected and edited to reinforce what Christians already believed, and so on. I spent a little time trying to find some religion that was more satisfying, but it was a half-hearted attempt; I still held on to some notion of a God, though, for a while, but within a couple of years I no longer had any hope that was the case. I went from having a bulletproof religious dogma to having holes in my armor almost overnight, and it didn't take long before I had nothing left to protect me. I felt bare, vulnerable, exposed. Everything I knew as a child and had used to form my moral core, every value I held, had been destroyed in a matter of months. And as much as we all like to make fun of Pascal's Wager, it held real sway over me for a while: What if I'm wrong? What if I've rejected the "one true religion" and in so doing I'm destined for Hell? These weren't intellectual questions; these were remnants of indoctrination and brainwashing, the emotional ties to an upbringing that had kept me petrified every night as a toddler, tears streaming down my face as I tried to shut out the Devil with all my might. But, at some point those questions started to fade, the fearful tug diminishing, my emotions aligning with my rationality. What I knew in my head to be true — that there was no reason to believe in a Hell — I eventually felt in my heart as well. It wasn't long, really, but it seemed like an extended transition as I was going through it.

Nobody really believes in a burning Hell....even the Christians who pay lip service. But if there would be a hell then at least you would be alive. After a day or so you would get used to the heat and enjoy life....it seems a better option than being dead.

What hell?

Guilt over an imaginary being judging me and fear both disappeared.

A couple of questions I always seem to get when my atheism comes up is are;" Are you not afraid of going to hell?" and "Then who do you worship, the Devil?" My answer was always that Hell and the Devil are both part of the same god story that I don't believe.

I remember a warm summer starry night, a magnificent sight the Milky Way and a star filled sky and I said to myself, "This is all there is." There is only one universe and realizing this set me free. GROG

Don't we make our own Hell here on Earth?

Frankly if the xians I see portrayed as 'saved" are an example then Hades is the place for me.
Party on Dude

Nope. Don't have any fear of hell or what would wait for me if there were any afterlife.

Being afraid of Hell is like being afraid of Mordor or the evil Galactic Empire -- these things are made up.

Truthfully, I had little fear of hell even as a believer. People need to keep in mind that hell evolved just like their scriptures evolved. Along with all of that the meanings have changed. Hell was simply an idea coming out of a city garbage dump, and we end up today seeing it as a place. The original idea was that you would be burned up just like garbage in the end. See Jacob 6:10 and you see the Mormons have given us ideas we all think of for hell, even if you were not Mormon. Then we have the OT Valley of Hinnom where people (and even children) were sacrificed to Molock. In the Dake bible we see also that those in heaven will be able to look down into hell. I'm not sure if this is to keep you on god's side or for ones in heaven to gloat because they made it and some people they knew did not.

My studies took me through all of this and I lost a fear of hell. My studies are why I no longer believe in gods today.

I have no fear of fairy tales especially after I pass...

No heaven, no hell, no Santa (sorry!)
It's called Being Free to me Me!

Same here

I don't know why, but I was never really worried about Hell.

fwiw our concept of hell came from Norse/Angle scribes xlating the Bible for us, and is not even in the original; Gehenna is a place on earth. They just didnt have any better analogy to xlate Gehenna into i guess? Well, thats prolly bs, they had trash dumps too, but after all they were surely all "believers" wanting to goto heaven, so for that someone had to "go to hell" i guess

if you dig a pit for others, you end up in it yourself

As a theist, I found it impossible to no commit a sin under the faith’s definition so there was always a feeling of uneasiness about what would occur after this life is over. I miss more relaxed about it now as an atheist.

Never really believed in the first place so no, can't say it ever really frightened me.

Even when I was a small child I don't remember being afraid of hell. I guess I was lucky enough to be raised in a non-denominational, vaguely-Christian, just-be-nice-to-people sort of way, and then if you were nice enough you went to heaven.

When I seriously started reading the Torah and the New Testament, I actually found myself looking forward to hell, because if YHWH turned out to be real, heaven in his company would be insufferable. Robert Heinlein's Job: A Comedy of Justice bears me out on this.

I never had religion or a fear of Hell, so I can’t say much. I’m glad you don’t have that fear anymore. That doesn’t sound very fun.

Some Christian religions don't believe in the devil or hell as anything more than a concept.

I feel the same. I feel silly for ever having believed in that bullshit. Some Christians have told me that the reason they believe in god is because they are afraid of going to hell. I must admit that when I was young that fear of hell is the reason I sought out god in the first place. It feels great to have been relieved of all that superstition.

Same!!!!!