I think the threat of having to sti through a church service is far more traumatizing to me than any threat of hell.

On some level, I'm sure it still affects me — it scared me to death when I was very young, and was in reality a form of child abuse. But, on a conscious level, I don't feel fear or obsess over it. I don't believe such a place exists, and I understand the biblical progression enough to see how the concept of hell developed over the years.

Growing up while going to different churches, I never believed it. Then while I was a JW I learned Hell is not in the bible. I find that so called Christens like the believe that they are going to Heaven to be rewarded and the rest of us are going to be tortured for ever. That to me is evil thinking. Of course the Clergy love it because it gives them control over people.

No. Not even close to afraid. That worked on me only as a child, but the notion of a benevolent omniscient creater making us so ignorant and then punishing us for eternity by the billions is its own oxymoronic disproof.

I would say that I'm not bothered by the threat of hell, however growing up under the fear of hell has given me some unhealthy reflex reactions where the concept of love is involved. I often find myself questioning the motives of loved ones, wondering if they are motivated by human decency, or by a personal benefit, or need to manipulate and control. I shake it off quickly, but this is a result of Christian indoctrination that will likely be present for the rest of my life.

I’ve always thought this was pretty funny.

Hell is not even in the bible. But yea it worked on me too. It actually was a main reason to start investigating these religious things in more detail. But it is primarily psychological similar to using fear or intimidation or coercion.

No. I don’t think I’ve ever really thought of hell as a real place. Before I accepted that I was an atheist and considered myself non religious, I always thought if there is a god and he would send me to hell just because I didn’t pledge some allegiance to him knowing that I’m a good person, then I wouldn’t really want to be in heaven with him. Now it’s not even something that crosses my mind.

Jews don't believe in hell. Unless you count Mismi in mid-summer....

Not in the least. Actually never really was even when I was religious, but now I never even give it a first thought.

Not really. Where I live, priests mostly stopped preaching about the punishments and started focusing on the more positive parts of the religion. Historically, the church here used to scare people so much that people got fed up and kicked it out of any and every position where it could hold power over people (ie education, health, government, etc), so now they're trying to get people back with a more seductive approach, rather than a threatening one.