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

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I'm an atheist. If there is a god, do you believe I will get into heaven? Or will I go to Hell.

What does your religion say will happen to me?

Well I'm an atheist too. I believe in Christianity it is said that parsing judgment with a capital 'J' is a grave sin itself that may damn the person doing it, which means that certain sects of the baptist church in the US and other Christian sects could end up damning themselves theologically for promoting such activity. Of course people believe what they want to believe and those the claim not to cherry pick in fact do.

So then no christian religion can preach if I'm going to heaven or hell, because that would be a sin.

I don't believe in a afterlife in sense of heaven and hell, in fact I don't believe in the typical afterlife period (only death, transition and rebirth). I have my own customized beliefs in things, but still I thought I'll answer this anyway...

You'll simply die, resting as a inactive 'soul' that merges back with the universal consciousnesses and simply wait until rebirth occurs naturally (and you could be reborn as literally anything, from an microbe to maybe a superior alien life form perhaps). All particles or arrangement of multiple particles are unique identities, and double as soul identification numbers (imagine your identity having a unique serial number). But the problem is that, a soul is not completely conscious as a individual form, until it's dominantly incorporated into a animated state, aka life form (I elaborate this a bit later in this post).

By saying that, it could take a indeterminable number of years (I'm talking between days to virtually to near eternity) before you're born again by the way heh. After all, the particle(s) that made your soul identity, must be incorporated as a dominant identity to the body it resides in. This means the particles must be somehow consumed by a living thing, have them allocated to a reproductive system, and with luck, the physical fetus' body determines your particles of your soul identity, as the dominant identity (via, implanted into the brain and all cells agree to treat them as dominant). But look on the bright side about the waiting period, at least perception of time and individual thought doesn't exist when you're dead, if even you still have individuality conserved somehow, at least you'll become a universal spectator of various events (minus all your life memories though as your brain stored that data). It's a really complicated thing.

The process is indiscriminate, as all things turn back into natural elements, and the 'soul' is rendered inactive and goes into a near eternal sleep; without a true sense of self as a living thing would, as it now a collective part of the universal consciousness, which I believe are three goddesses (they have no real gender, but I like to consider them female).

That's what I believe would happen to you, and pretty much to all living things when they die.

I'm a Christian and I firmly believe that everyone on this Earth is responsible for his or her own salvation. Final Judgement is, of course, reserved for the Almighty. Earthly judgement happens all the time, whether it is just or unjust. Atheists are responsible for whatever may or may not happen to them after they die. Just as I am.

Those are very good questions, Bogan. But it's all up to you.

If it's any consolation, according to Revelations God hates Christians who pick the wrong sect more then he hates atheists. 'Tepid' Christians apparently have a very special ring of hell set aside for them

Every denomination is different. As a Lutheran (ELCA to be specific), I am in line with their teachings.

Only the worst of the worst go to hell (i.e. Hitler, Stalin, Pol Pot, etc.)

Nexus, you've got an interesting theory.

For myself...well, claiming to 'know' would be arrogance, I think, and everyone experiences the world in their own way, but my own belief is that our personal, individual consciousness, which is part of the universal Consciousness (only, being separate physical beings, we often fail to realize this), becomes, after death, fully aware of that unity. If it wants to.

I think there's a lot of sense in the accounts of the Bardo Thodol, the Tibetan Book of the Dead; most of your 'afterlife' experiences are illusory, based on your consciousness at the time, but you can, if you really want to, go beyond that and reach union with the ultimate Reality. Which would - to go by people who've experienced it in this lifetime - be beyond words, but...pretty amazing. Probably the origin of the very watered-down concept the religions have called 'heaven'. The hells are illusory and temporary; ultimate Reality is bliss. Tallies with what I believe about the idea of hell, which is that it's our old primate ego thing about wanting people who don't agree with us to suffer, projected out onto the Universe as if the Universe somehow also 'wanted' what we (or the people of our little group) want. Bizarre!

Going back to the question, what do I think atheists experience after death? Whatever they need or want to experience. That may be nothing at all, if they're truly atheist (and good luck to 'em, if they're OK with non-existence, some of them have been among the most moral people I've met and I have no grudge against them whatever), or they may have some hope of an afterlife hidden away in their subconscious, in which case that's what they'll get. What anyone else, or anyone else's God thinks of that, is frankly none of their business.

I find this question odd. How many atheists actually believe in Heaven or Hell that they should worry about what religious people think of their lives beyond life?



In my belief, you can only be liberated if you devote yourself to the Eternal. If you don't devote yourself, then you don't devote yourself. I can't answer on their outcome because I am not in charge of it. I do believe that not everyone who believes will be liberated. A person who considers himself devoted but undedicated in action is a hypocrite.

To add, I don't actually believe in a biblical heaven or hell. I don't believe in a Heaven so to speak, although Hell seems a bit real imo.

I don't believe either place exists. I do bel;ieve in re-incarnation, which means that after death my 'soul; or id may be incorporated into perhaps another lifeform. Also, everyone is responsible for their own actions, and though they may pray to a 'god' for guidance and salvation, it is basically up to them (and the Universe) as to what will happen. Hence the meaning of Katma and the Law of Threefold Return. To me, there is no such thing as a god who judges, nor is there a Satan who is master of Hell. There is just death and rebirth.