Do I believe Atheists are going to hell?

[Catholic_Lady]

I think you may have misunderstood. I believe that God is love and goodness, and so where those things are present God is present also. If you accept love and goodness, if you strive to live by the values of honesty, truth, generosity, humility, kindness, etc, to the best of your understanding of those things, you are unknowingly accepting God into your heart, and He is present there, imho. I am by no means saying that people who are religious or Catholic are all good people.

You're quite secular for a Catholic, CL

I really don't know how you can get that where ever there is "love and goodness", there is god. God is supposed to be everywhere, right? Including all awful places, and allowing all awful things to occur. Once again, your conception of god is not your understanding of morality.

If, in your view, a good portion of the Catholics aren't moral and therefore aren't going to heaven, and a good portion of the atheists and members of other religions are moral and are going to heaven, there is no correlation between heaven and religion. So what, then, is the role of the Catholic Church?

Lol the notion that God is love is a Christian thing, not a secular thing. 😉

It seems you're running with what I said a bit too much. Yes, it is my personal opinion that being sincerely mistaken about the existance of God won't get someone damned, in and of itself. Though again, this is merely my opinion as I assume the best of people, and just based on what makes logical sense to me. At the end of the day, it isn't my judgement to make, and I would rather people not take my word for it. I'm not claiming it as some sort of revealed truth.

As for why the Church exists if I think it's possible people can go to Heaven without being Catholic? This is a strange question to me, tbh. If I believe the faith is true, then of course I think it's important. Truth is important. Just because a person may be honestly mistaken about it without getting damned (imho), doesn't mean it isn't important.

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Eh, don't know about you. You're one of the mean ones around here. Probably 30% chance for you. Now little Succie on the other hand.....

I'm next! I'm next! Where am I gonna end up? 

As you know Joods, you're an awful person. Truly mean. And a bad friend. 98% chance of Hell for you.

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People who don't care whether the theists thinks we are going to hell:

I don't care either. I'm very certain that the afterlife is a myth. But, I think it's an important conversation to have, because we know so many theists who are our friends and family who may very well think we are going to hell, or try to avoid thinking about it. This came up a month ago in my family when my cousin, an atheist, died quite young. Everyone was very sad, but there was this awkward tension in that the Catholics in our family knew that he was an atheist... did they think he was going to hell? That's a troublesome thought, and not one that you want to discuss with your grieving family.

So for me it's actually important to understand if and how religious people can rationalize atheists not burning in hell, and it's a lot easier on an internet forum than with the people we love at a time of grieving (which is the only time it's really been relevant in my life). It's a more objective, and less personal, place to have that discussion.

You should ask them. You may be pleasantly surprised by the answer.

I think at best they would say no, at worst they would say it's not their judgement to make.