Do You Believe in Hell?
In the Sunday Globe there was an interesting article in Ideas section with the title, "What Lies Beneath," a recent pew study on religion and public life. It revealed that only 59 percent of Americans believe in hell while 74 percent believe in heaven.
Several scholars interviewed for the article shared a brief history of the belief in hell going back to the Mesopotamians. They note that since the Enlightenment, there has been a gradual change in viewing God as punishing to God as benevolent. A scholar from Barnard College, Alan F. Segal, suggests that this loss of belief in hell and the more benevolent view of God is a function of "American Pollyannaism." He notes that many Americans view heaven as an improved America: "it's sort of like a retirement home in the sky, or maybe an assisted living community without the physical deficiencies."
Several scholars interviewed for the article shared a brief history of the belief in hell going back to the Mesopotamians. They note that since the Enlightenment, there has been a gradual change in viewing God as punishing to God as benevolent. A scholar from Barnard College, Alan F. Segal, suggests that this loss of belief in hell and the more benevolent view of God is a function of "American Pollyannaism." He notes that many Americans view heaven as an improved America: "it's sort of like a retirement home in the sky, or maybe an assisted living community without the physical deficiencies."
What are your thoughts about heaven and hell and this development?
posted by UCC Medfield at 8:34 AM
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