To religious people. Will atheists go to hell or heaven?

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Ragtime: Lest not you judge, for you may be judged yourself said a well known scholar that you know. Or in other words, Stop making insinuations about other people when you're far from perfect yourself. Ego may not be a dirty word, but in your case you may well have forgotten the meaning.

Oh Lord, it's hard to be humble, when you're perfect in every way
I can't wait to look in the mirror, cause I get better looking each day........

Sorry about that, but his seat is reserved on Pan-Am flight 666. Seat 23F Economy class. Smoking.

the Christian debates whether or not the Atheist will go to Heaven or Hell when they die.

the Atheist finds it rather irrelevant, because he's more worried about the fact that he'll be dead.

Boom Boom! Here endeth the lesson.

I doubt you'd want to be on that flight, skafather. They're all hellbound in a handbasket.

Well, anyway, back on topic, I'm reading about this on wikipedia...

We need a general theology expert on this. What happens to non-Christians when they die is widely contended between sects, and in fact my wikipedia browsings seem to yield no coherent picture of what happens when people die at all.

The general picture does not look favorable. Catholic Limbo is a state which is either minimum misery or maximum natural happiness (not a bad afterlife), but it is reserved generally for unbaptized people who died in infancy (ands hence committed no sins of their own). What happens to those in Limbo on Judgment Day doesn't seem to be agreed upon either.

A passage I find interesting is that of Eastern Orthodoxy, where wikipedia says, "Similarly, although Orthodoxy teaches that salvation is obtained only through Christ and his Church, the fate of those outside the Church at the Last Judgment is left to the mercy of God and is not declared." This certainly seems to make the fate of non-Christians ambiguous.

There is however a doctrine called "Universal Reconciliation" whereby all people are eventually saved. This doesn't seem to be a terribly common belief, but in regards to Catholicism and Orthodox:

Some people are bad and they don't give a damn
what they do or who they hurt.
They go through their lives and don't apologize
for the s**t that they've disturbed.
But they don't bother me at all cuz I know quite well
When their lives are over and they've done what they've done
They're the people that are going to hell

Some beat their wives or pull out a knife
and stab a person or two or three
with no repercussions and no one here can touch them
and they get away scott free
But that's not the case you see and I'm glad to tell
When their lives are over and they've done what they've done
They're the people that are going to hell

They will spend eternity cursing all they've done
faced with karma consequences and nowhere left to run
They will be in agony until the end of time
Cuz they were such ass holes while alive

So try and be nice and to do what's right cuz there will come a day
When you're faced with your maker and no one here can save you
No matter what they say.
And be glad that you were good cuz some don't do so well and
when their lives are over and they've done what they've done
They're the people that are going to hell

My impression of Heaven and Hell - the version that makes the most sense to me personally - is a peculiar one. And I don't expect it to match up with any particular authority, or to match up with anyone else's notions:

Sins are not bad just because of an arbitary authority, but because they are actions that confuse and inevitably corrupt the soul. We may use authority in the education of children, but the more mature we get, the more we see first-hand the damage of sinful actions. An act like murder not only causes suffering in the victim and his family, but increasing pain in the perpetrator. The pursuit of wants beyond one's needs creates a growing sense of emptiness. These are particularly Buddhist notions.

People who are wrapped up in sins become deluded in excuses, and their minds become sick, and they become increasingly insistant that their actions are the right ones, that they are just victims of others. Even if you are unrepentant in life, imagine an eternity alone with your sins. These are typically people who would not accept forgiveness if it were offered, and I think a good God would extend forgiveness to everyone.

So I guess I see Hell as being just like Earth - people pursuing their empty desires and hurting one another for all eternity - except all the decent people have wandered off. The worst curse for nasty people is to have other nasty people as company, and the best blessing for good people is to have other good people as company. Personally, I think a good God would prefer to have everyone be decent folk and hang out together... but God expects us to make our own choices.

Just an idea.

For dust you are, and to dust you will return,

So no Hell for you then, at least thats what the Bible says.

Actually, when you really come down to it, heaven and hell are just states of mind. Heaven being elation and joy; while hell could be considered depression and angst. No party rules other either except we ourselves, which means the true key to heaven is to live a happy life doing good for people.