Richard Carrier and Robert Ingersoll on Hell

So alien and scary are many Christians to me, that they do not even know they are being wicked when they are trying to be kind. By this I refer to the second lamest argument ever made: "There will be a 'time',"  one thoughtful would-be savior of mine wrote, "when we will all have all the 'evidence' we need to prove our beliefs correct or wrong. By then it may be too late." This was the kindest way it was put by dozens of Christians ("I will dance with glee in Heaven as you roast in Hell!" said another). It surprises me that for all this man's devotion and sincerity, he somehow missed the most important lesson any man can learn: threats are the hallmark of a wicked creed. A God who would create a hell, or allow any good person to fall there by mere error, would be a wicked god by  definition, and anyone who admired such a god would be just as wicked, and therefore those Christians who do so are truly frightening. They have taken evil and called it good, under the banner of self-righteousness, and by this they justify the most horrible ideas and wishes and then have the gall to pretend they believe in love." R. Carrier

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Robert G Ingersoll:

The doctrine that future happiness depends upon belief is monstrous. It is the infamy of infamies. The notion that faith in Christ is to be rewarded by an eternity of bliss, while a dependence upon reason, observation and experience merits everlasting pain, is too absurd for refutation, and can be relieved only by that unhappy mixture of insanity and ignorance, called "faith." What man, who ever thinks, can believe that blood can appease God? And yet, our entire system of religion is based upon that belief. The Jews pacified Jehovah with the blood of animals, and according to the Christian system, the blood of Jesus softened the heart of God a little, and rendered possible the salvation of a fortunate few. It is hard to conceive how the human mind can give assent to such terrible ideas, or how any sane man can read the Bible and still believe in the doctrine of inspiration.

If there is a God who will damn his children forever, I would rather go to hell than to go to heaven and keep the society of such an infamous tyrant. I make my choice now. I despise that doctrine. It has covered the cheeks of this world with tears. It has polluted the hearts of children, and poisoned the imaginations of men.... What right have you, sir, Mr. clergyman, you, minister of the gospel to stand at the portals of the tomb, at the vestibule of eternity, and fill the future with horror and with fear? I do not believe this doctrine, neither do you. If you did, you could not sleep one moment. Any man who believes it, and has within his breast a decent, throbbing heart, will go insane. A man who believes that doctrine and does not go insane has the heart of a snake and the conscience of a hyena.

Nothing could add to the horror of hell, except the presence of its creator, God. While I have life, as long as I draw breath, I shall deny with all my strength, and hate with every drop of my blood, this infinite lie.

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In Fundamentalism: Hazards and Heartbreaks, page 70-71, the authors raise a good point on the issue of Hell:

“It is difficult to see the point and the morality of endlessly torturing people.  Pain is presumptively bad, and it is desirable only when the infliction of it is necessary for a greater good, such as reforming criminals or deterring potential criminals from crime. Endless torture, however, is not designed to reform people, nor is the threat of it necessarily effective at deterring people from harming others.  Torture, war, corruption, and murder were rampant, for example, throughout the Middle Ages, when people were filled with the belief in, and fear of, Hell.  Indeed, the belief in Hell has, in itself, often yielded persecution, torture, and murder……. Morally speaking, almost any other treatment of the wicked is preferable to endless torture, in which finite crimes receive infinite punishment.  Even the annihilation of the unsaved would be less morally objectionable than an endless Hell.”