“14% of men believe that they’ll end up in hell, if it exists, as do 6% of women”. (YouGov poll)
If you have the self-knowledge to know that you are destined for Hell, you are almost certainly there already. Of course there is a hell – but it is in your head. It is about living a life of selfishness and greed; a life of cheating and dishonesty, bullying and unkindness to others, and somehow knowing it. It is about recognising in your heart of hearts that you have hastened the death or disablement (or caused them) of other people, abused your own body, or lied and cheated throughout your life, and feeling uncomfortable about it. Of course, they wouldn’t admit all this publically, only to themselves in the course of a sleepless night. What this 14% are picking up on is a half-digested teaching of organised religion, which invented Hell as a mechanism for controlling congregations in life and frightening them into approved behavior.
What you can say of the 14% is that at least they have owned up and are aware that they are sinners. But it does make you wonder what proportion of men, in particular, would see themselves destined for hell if they were absolutely honest. And what about that (only) 6% of women? Mmmmh!
The disbelief in an afterlife is one of the principle reason why I’m an Epicurean. As you quite rightly point out, my parents used Hell as a way of frightening me into believing their particularly literalist form of Christianity. It kept me within a religion I was otherwise sceptical of. Even if you genuinely believe in a Hell, using it as a means to convert people is moral and intellectual bankruptcy, because it induces fear- clouding people’s ability to think rationally. Once I realised that there wasn’t a Hell, there was very little reason for me to stay within Christianity, so I promptly left. I understand that many Christians say that their faith is a source of comfort and strength. But if the benefits of Christianity are so extensive and obvious, why resort to fear in order to convince others? The use of vivid imagery to describe Hell is particularly heinous when trying to convert children- who have very wild imaginations, and are more easily scared. Children are also more gullible, because they have less life experience and know less.