Sermon: Fear of Hell Makes People Bad

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Hallelujah!

http://www.robertmprice.mindvendor.com/w...ampart.htm

Let me tell you just why this is important. You may think all the old doctrinal debates that characterized 18th and 19th century Protestant theology, including Universalism, are quaint and irrelevant, like medieval scholasticism: how many angels can dance on the head of a pin? But if so, you fail to realize that the rest of the world does not share our sophisticated view of the matter. There are plenty of people who preach and believe in Hell. And because they do, there are genuine, real world consequences. It is worth debating, worth our taking the time to challenge it. Here are three reasons.

First, and most importantly, believers in Hell, by ascribing cruelty to God (he is willing, they say, to torture people forever and this simply because they are infidels) are redefining their notion of morality so as to make "goodness" compatible with cruelty and torture! If your God is your moral standard, and it must be, and your God tortures unbelievers in Hell eternally, then your standard of goodness is compatible with the most terrible sadism.

Look, this is not clever sophistry on my part, as if I am exploiting an unintended consequence of their belief system, an embarrassing implication they never notice because they in fact do not countenance cruelty. I only wish it were so! But sadly, many do see the implication and embrace it! Look at the Inquisition! "We're burning you for your own good! Hell is a lot hotter, and this way you'll get the pain out of the way here and now!" Look at John Calvin, who not only had Michael Servetus, a Unitarian forbear, burnt at the stake, but afterward published a tract explaining his theological justification for doing so!

Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson do not say what they say because they are mean men. In fact, a friend of mine lives right across the street from Falwell, sees him buying cat food in the supermarket. And my friend, a secularist, attests that Falwell is a friendly fellow! You see, his cruelty is a result, not of his personality, but of his theology! The fruit of the Spirit is bigotry, I guess.

Second, the Hell belief retards morality, even apart from the danger of perverting it as I've just described. It keeps people in the earliest stage of moral development: doing the "right" thing because they fear punishment of Hell if they don't. If you think that, you will never get to the point of doing what is right for its own sake. You won't have the luxury for that! And you will never come to trust your own moral judgment--because there is no margin for error, Hell being the consequence of a mistake. So you'll play it safe and play by the rules that the Hell-monger gives you. You know, the Grand Inquisitor. God becomes a pedantic teacher: you don't want to get an F, so you stick to rote memorization, and forget about creative thinking of your own. If Hell awaits you, you'd be a fool to do it any other way. For this reason, Kant correctly saw that a belief in Hell does not promote moral character but instead must always undermine it.

And again, a scene I love which angered many fundies...