In September 2012, the feature-length documentary Hellbound? was released in theaters across North America. I was one of the people interviewed joining a growing chorus of voices that were questioning the traditional view of hell as a place of eternal conscious torment.
The film asked a handful of “burning” questions. Does hell exist? If so, who goes there, and why? More importantly, what do our views about hell say about us and our understanding of God, people and politics? Does belief in a literal hell also bring people into conflict with other people? Has the religious right come from the hell-believing traditions?
Five years later, the debate over hell is far from settled, but the landscape in which such questions are being asked has changed radically. We’re in the AGE of TRUMP.
Hence, my pal filmmaker Kevin Miller decided it was time to go back to some of the people like me who appear in Hellbound? and others he met along the way to get our input on how the debate has shifted and how it’s remained the same. The result is the new book Hellrazed? where these writers and I are offering all sorts of perspectives, some highly academic, some polemic, some intensely personal, and all bound to impact how readers think and feel about this issue and how it set the stage for America’s revived love affair with revenge, division, racism, white nationalism and yes, the emergence of Trump.
Hellrazed? is available at these links:
https://www.amazon.com/Hellrazed-Kevin-Miller/dp/1979198640
http://www.kevinmillerxi.com/store2
https://www.amazon.ca/Hellrazed-Kevin-Miller/dp/1979198640
3 Comments. Leave new
” Burning questions ” ? …. Blaming the continued belief in the existence of Hell on ” the age of Trump ” when the concept regardless of one’s beliefs go all the way back to the dawn of written and oral history across ALL cultures ? …. Attempting in vain as both the movie and the book do to place all the blame on Christianity and the Middle Ages when in fact every religion major or minor has a concept of hell within it … be it a literal hell , hades etc .. or the theology of Karma that can leave one in a loop of eternal punishment ? … A list of what can best be described as minor league barely educated wanna be theologians , philosophers etc .. the overwhelming majority of which are either universalists … emergents … atheists and agnostics who by circumstance .. not ability have gained a modicum of celebrity within a very closed loop of individuals and who’s opinions barely register in the public mindset ?
etc – et al – ad nauseam
Suffice it to say … I find both the book and the film to be vapid verging on the inane … historically inept …. theologically vacant … philosophically fatuous verging on the absurd … disingenuous in their claims … excessively agenda based thereby discrediting any and all suppositions , conclusions and opinions … and on the best of days barely an adolescent level of discourse and information. … intended not to provoke any meaningful and intelligent discussion on the subject of hell .. but rather a propaganda tool who’s sole purpose is to further the Dead Man Walking ideology of Universalism .. which in reality never has and never will gain any traction among anyone with a modicum of critical thinking within their skill set regardless of their beliefs
Or to put it more bluntly in the common vernacular borrowing the words of TV character ‘ Bulldog ” ( ” Frasier ” )
” I call … total BS ”
And if I may … one more divisive nail in what is rapidly becoming become the coffin of common sense , intelligence , our Democratic Republic … and decency .
e.g . The religious version of Identity Politics personified
In addendum … the rhetoric and vacant ideology of Progressivism .
Think about it people . In reality … how much has the human race ‘ progressed ‘ … say … just over the last hundred years … never mind since the dawn of written history ?
The answer my friends … has been blowing in the wind ever since the dawn of time . Not one tiny bit . Because as history has shown .. for every step forward .. we take at least two in reverse
Sermon over … coffee , espresso , biscotti and Mssr Trompeu’s croissants in the narthex … Invitations for ‘ Public ‘ Debate and Appearances welcome … otherwise … eco … va bene … basta .. ciao
Are you seriously claiming that the rhetoric and ideology of Progressivism is lacking in common sense and intelligence, while the transparently self-serving, nonsensical beliefs of Evangelical Christians are intellectually sound and based in truth? Are you accusing those who question the dogma of the religious right of lacking decency, while, at the same time, implying that the words and actions of today’s manipulative, cruel and hate-filled Evangelicals are moral and decent? And are you implying that Progressivism can be reduced to “identity politics,” whereas Evangelism, a movement based on the assumption that only those who preach the gospel are worthy of being “saved” has nothing to do with identity? From a Jewish humanist’s perspective, your assertions are delusional, pathetic and absurd!
You are confused about the connection between Hell and Trump. Let me explain: within Jewish culture and tradition, there is nothing that even remotely resembles the cruelty and punitive nature of Hell, and there is certainly no day of judgement. Instead, we believe in social justice and the acceptance of all people! But IF THERE WERE A HELL, where all the unrepentant sinners on earth were sent in the afterlife, it would be those depraved souls who have chosen to enable and defend a dangerous man as vile, corrupt, immoral, cruel and dishonest as Trump—at the expense of the poor, the suffering and the most unfortunate—who would be headed straight to Hell on their Judgement Day!
Ha! Hell, that ancient myth that has kept folks in bondage about burning in a lake of fire forever.
Hell was not much on my radar as a Christian. Although I spent most of my time reading Christian apologists and commentaries, I re-evaluated Christianity after I decided to simply allow the Bible to speak for itself. Wasn’t long before I realized something was terribly wrong with the character of Jehovah. I didn’t see the loving deity some were talking about. I saw the one who punished a newborn babe because its parents committed adultery, plus the genocide myths I realized there probably created to control folks.
And the better read I became about history and science in general, the more I realized there was no objective empirical evidence that a deity who needed a “human” sacrifice even existed. Freedom! So here’s to hoping the conversation doesn’t stop at just re-evaluating a mythical hell, but the mythology of the resurrection of Christ as well. Cheers!