My results:
Orthodox Quaker (100%)
Seventh Day Adventist (100%)
Mainline to Liberal Christian Protestants (85%)
Mainline to Conservative Christian/Protestant (85%)
Eastern Orthodox (84%)
Roman Catholic (84%)
Liberal Quakers (71%)
Orthodox Judaism (61%)
Baha'i Faith (58%)
Islam (57%)
Unitarian Universalism (57%)
Sikhism (52%)
Reform Judaism (50%)
Hinduism (47%)
Secular Humanism (39%)
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Mormons) (37%)
Jainism (37%)
Jehovah's Witness (35%)
Neo-Pagan (33%)
Mahayana Buddhism (29%)
New Age (28%)
Nontheist (28%)
Theravada Buddhism (28%)
Taoism (25%)
Christian Science (Church of Christ, Scientist) (16%)
Scientology (15%)
New Thought (15%)
I'm not sure where to find my old results to compare. I think that some percentages changed around, but the order stayed pretty close. I'm pretty sure that Mainline to Conservative Christian/Protestant switched with Mainline to Liberal Christian Protestants, but as their percentages are the same that may not mean anything.
I still identify as a (non-practicing) Christian. I learned some things about Christianity and the more I learned, the more I didn't understand. Like, is "hell" really a place on earth where people after life are physically tortured? I was going to read the Bible last year, but was caught up in finishing my degree.
Literally "hell" means "concealed." It is used to translate both Hades and (less accurately) Gehenna. (KJV also uses it for Sheol, but only is cases where the deceased was considered a bad guy.)
Hades literally means "the unseen." It did not refer only to the realm of the dead in Greek mythology, but also to the very physical location of anything buried beneath the surface of the earth. (The God called Hades presided not only over the dead but also over all mineral wealth dug up from the ground, and sometimes also with agricultural wealth grown from seeds planted in the ground.) Hell is actually a good translation of Hades, but confuses people who don't know it technically just denotes where the body is buried.
The anthers of the New Testament were probably used Hades as a translation for Sheol, denoting "the pit" or "the grave." Again, it is just where the body is buried. The bible generally supports the notion that those dead and buried in sheol/hades/hell are completely unconscious, not tormented by anything. (Pretty much the only support for consciousness in Hades is the parable of Lazarus and the rich man, which rather oddly describes what the rich man "sees in the unseen." Some think it was Jesus mocking the views of certain Hellenized Pharisees whose view few the afterlife derived more from Greek philosophy than scripture. The Sadducees, who accepted only scripture, rejected any sort of afterlife whatsoever, but Jesus justified the doctrine of the General Resurrection using the old testament.)
Gehenna means "the Ravine of Hinnom" (more fully called the Valley of the Sons of Hinnom"), which was the location of Jerusalem's garbage dump. All sorts of waste were discarded here, including the carcasses of animals and criminals deemed undeserving of a proper burial. (It is believed that it was made a dump to discourage the return of a cult that formerly used the site to sacrifice their children as burnt offerings to false gods such as Moloch.) During Jesus's time an open pit fire burned the waste here day and night, but that went out a long time ago. Christ used the term Gehenna as a symbol for complete destruction. It is for the destruction of dead bodies, not the torture of people. There is absolutely no reason to believe that it refers to a place of torture. Idioms like "the gnashing of teeth" refer to anger and hostility, not pain and suffering.
Most parts of scripture that use fiery imagery and describe suffering actually have to do with the testing and purification of the saints, not the punishment of sinners. It isn't something to try to escape, but to endure in order to grow stronger.
It may be worth noting that Fire and Brimstone in antiquity had a very different connotation than what they have today. It was more heavenly than hellish. The Greek word for brimstone or sulfur is the same as the word divine. It was considered a holy substance. Vessels intended for a holy purpose were purified by fire and brimstone before taking their place in the temple. Incense might be burned alone for secular purposes, but in religious ceremonies it had to be mixed with sulfur first.
A plain reading of scripture (at least in literal translations) supports the view that when you are dead, you're dead. You don't live on as an incorporeal spirit in either bliss or torment. There is little difference between a biblical and an atheistic view of what happens right after death. The difference is that the bible is clear that we will all take part in a bodily resurrection in the last days, to be judged. Those in Christ will be given glorified bodies and reign forever on the New Earth. The rest will die a second death, ceasing to exist permanently this t
.
