In his WSJ Review piece "Do We Still Need To Believe In Hell" yesterday, Fordham professor Scott G. Bruce informs us that:
"Hell lost some of its purchase on humankind in the 19th century, when new scientific theories such as Darwinism eroded the authority of the bible and the tides of sentiment turned against God's wrath in favor of His mercy."
This is correct given Darwin's theory of evolution pertaining to hominids shows humans descended from more primitive ape ancestors in the sort of process shown below:
The disconnection to supernatural fantasies and follies was traumatic for a large portion of humans at the time, and still remains so - as millions remain unable to accept we are risen apes and not "fallen angels". But they should rejoice, because being the former - in terms of evolution - means there is no purchase whatsoever of supernatural punishments. As we all know, and can be grown-up enough to say, neither the descendants of apes, or apes themselves possess "souls". There is only a brain, but it is ample to generate consciousness as I already showed in my blog post on 'A Materialist Model of Consciousness'.
Thus, when a human (or ape) dies, that's it. He is gone and there is nothing left - nothing to "punish" and nothing to go on. This hard fact may be why so many evangelicals and other über orthodox Christians refuse to accept evolution: they don't want to accept: a) they have no souls, and b) when they're dead, that's it, finito.
Aside: I do, however, leave open the (small) possibility of a nonlocal - quantum based - afterlife - wherein consciousness is enfolded in de Broglie waves. In such case, death doesn't mean the final termination of consciousness, so much as the end of its localization. If that is so, you cease to be a "person" or an individual identity and instead merge with other dispersed quantum wave forms (I have called them "B-waves" or de Broglie waves) to enter an "oceanic" state. Some commenters, i.e. Bryon Ehlmann on Quora, have insisted there is no evidence for this but they are wrong. The Davisson-Germer experiment revealed wave patterns from which the de Broglie wavelength could be computed. The experimental set up is shown below *:
Since these "matter waves" are inextricably bound to material particles, e.g. electrons, protons, and these persist after death, it is not a stretch to postulate the continued existence of B-waves or de Broglie waves and embodying a kind of remedial or primitive consciousness.
But I digress. The point is there is no need for "Hell" or to postulate such - because it has exhausted itself as any kind of useful concept, especially after Darwin's theory of evolution has basically rendered it fanciful along with hobgoblins and the Boogieman. Where Prof. Bruce is more on target is when he writes:
"At the same time, Hell has become a powerful metaphor for the most extreme suffering and squalor in this world."
To underscore this one can reference horrific spectacles such as beheld when the Nazi concentration camps were liberated, and which embodied the very essence of earthly Hell, e.g.
Photo taken outside the Mauthausen Concentration Camp by Russian soldiers in May, 1945. Many soldiers in the company that raided the camp declared they'd never beheld any Hell until seeing the gassed bodies of the Jewish victims.
But having briefly ventured into reality, Prof. Bruce then trundles back outside it to supernatural fairyland when he asks:
"Has Hell outlived its usefulness in modern society? Probably not. The doctrine still serves Christianity as it has for centuries as a frightening deterrent to sinful behavior."
I seriously doubt it. Most every person equipped with basic critical thinking skills and an IQ over room temperature can ascertain in a few minutes that the Hell doctrine collapses under logical scrutiny alone, e.g.
As for "sin", it is too childish for words. “Sin” is predicated on an exaggerated importance of humans in the universe. Thus, it elevates (albeit in a perverse way) the importance of humans in an otherwise meaningless cosmos. With “sin”, the overly self-important and morally smug, self-righteous human has at least the potential of offending his deity – thereby getting its attention – as opposed to being relegated to the status of a cosmic “roach”.
"Sin” then is a catch all, throwaway term for any localized and reactive behavior, e.g. at the personal, individual level, which is perceived as an offense against a deity. In the strict religious idiom, “Sin” impinges on and affects the deity that so many believe in...so if a deity doesn't exist there can be no sin. Take away the deity, and the whole sin fetish, obsession loses its allure and quickly becomes redundant. How can there be “sin” if there is no deity to offend or to notice “sin”? To tote up all the little “black marks” in its “book of future judgment”. If we are talking of offenses against other humans, say like Brett Kavanaugh's attack on a HS school girl (Christine Blasey Ford) when he was at Georgetown Prep- well that may well be a crime, but we usually don't invoke the religious term "sin."
Beyond that, no less a stalwart than philosopher Sir Bertrand Russell, in his book Why I Am Not A Christian, precisely identifies ‘religion’s source of terror’ ("Hell") to account for the hold it has on so many. He notes how fear has been ‘dignified’ by use of this source: the demented hell concept to the point people no longer think it disgraceful[1] . Russell correctly points out that by dignifying fear as a coercive tool to drum people into the fold, religions lose any claim to credibility. Again, I assert with the content of the preceding link and some critical thought, most intelligent people ought to be able to dispel any "need" to believe in Hell in a very short time.
Finally at the end of his essay, it is encouraging to see Bruce come to his senses, grounded in reality again:
"In some distant, better future, the foreclosure of Hell will be an important step in the maturation of human communities that can mete out justice on their own, without supernatural aid."
My question is: Why wait for some distant future to get our act together? Why keep exploting supernatural bunkum and boogiemen (demons, Satan)? Given our ascent to wards mastering AI and other marvels, there's no reason why supernatural - free justice can't be developed and meted out now. Besides, most people with more than half a brain already know Hell is B.S. For all the reasons given above. So I say, let's launch on that "better future" from now, not wait another thousand years! (Assuming we even have that long, which I frankly doubt.)
------
* Davisson and Germer heated their nickel crystal specimen in a high temperature oven, not knowing that this affected the formerly polycrystalline structure of the nickel to form large single crystal areas with crystal planes continuous over the width of the electron beam. To make a long story short, when the experiment re-commenced the electrons were scattered by atoms which originated from crystal planes inside the nickel crystal, leaving patterns from which the de Broglie wavelength could be calculated according to:
[1] Russel, R.: Why I Am Not A Christian, Touchstone Books, p. 54, 1957.
