Whenever I get into a discussion about religion with a progressive Christian the first thing I like to bring up is Hell. It is easy for progressive Christians to speak out against Dick Cheney\u2019s torture program here on Earth, but for some strange reason they are much more hesitant to speak out against God\u2019s eternal torture program in Hell.<\/p>\n
Recently, a progressive Christian attempted to give progressive Christianity credit for all that is good and justice in our society. I had to disagree. So the very first thing I asked was about whether progressive Christians believe in Hell. I got two responses and I think they are both interesting.<\/p>\n
The first response was that most progressive Christians reject the concept of Hell entirely. I wish that were true, but it has the same ring to it as when Dinesh D\u2019Souza claims that only about 5% of Christians reject the science of evolution. He is just pulling a made up number out of his ass. I don\u2019t think most progressive Christians reject the concept of Hell, just that they prefer not to think about the concept much. To the credit of progressive Christians, they do focus more on this life than they do on the next life. But I question how many truly reject the concept of Hell entirely.<\/p>\n
That brings me to the second response which was alone the lines of, \u201cIt doesn\u2019t really matter where I think you go when you die, it is really up to God and I\u2019m not judging.\u201d Note that this isn\u2019t an exact quote but it is a pretty accurate summery. This person apparently is part of that tiny small minority of progressive Christians who don\u2019t reject the concept of Hell outright. This I think is actually the more typical progressive Christian view and it is a view I have a serious issue with.<\/p>\n
Can you imagine if we showed the same indifference to the Bush\/Cheney torture program? For me, the issue is simple. If you believe in Hell, then you most take a stand against God. If you believe that God exists and that Hell exists, then the moral thing to do is to criticize God for torturing anyone for all eternity. You can\u2019t hide behind God\u2019s judgment. Torture is wrong and eternal torture is ridiculously wrong. If God does it or even allows it to happen when he has the power to stop it, then God is immoral, period. Further, if you believe in God and Hell and you don\u2019t take a position against God, then you are also immoral. Think about it!<\/p>\n
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