An investigation into people(TM)s belief about Hell

Table of Contents

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Rationale

With a sharp decrease in the number of people believing in hell, whether inside or outside the church, there is growing concern among sociologists that this, along with the general secularisation of the country, is leading to a less integrated society and one which is no longer conforming to rules. Religion used to be society’s source of moral guidelines, norms and values, with the belief in Hell instilling in people fear of eternal damnation for their wrongdoings. However, people today no longer have this sense of fear that once used to cause them to follow moral guidelines, according to people such as new right sociologist John Redwood and functionalist Talcott Parsons, this is directly linked to a reduction in social integration and thus the increase in juvenile delinquency observed today.

The study will use a questionnaire and will include questions on peoples’ general beliefs, their beliefs in hell and their views how this belief affects their life. This will allow the collection of quantitative data on the number of people who are religious, who believes in Hell, and how this belief affects their life and the collection of qualitative data as to why people no longer believe in hell and their views how this belief affects their life, which is essential to this study. Using a questionnaire is also less-time consuming than methods such as interviews, thus allowing extra time for the processing of data, equally, as the questionnaires will be anonymous, more valid answers should be gained.

The questionnaire will be handed out to 10 males and 10 females in sixth form at Sandown High School as this is an age where a number of young adults question their beliefs in the metaphysical. And the participants will be selected using opportunity sampling in the library at Sandown High School.

This study aims to look at three things:

Whether more males of females believe in Hell
Whether more religious or non-religious people believe in Hell
Whether peoples’ belief about Hell affects their life

Context #

Context

Hell and people’s beliefs about Hell have always played a substantial part in the foundations of society. There are many views on what Hell is and how it relates to our lives; some, such as evangelicals, believe that Hell is separation from God, some, such as religious fundamentalists, that it is a literal place of fire and brimstone and some that it is simply a state of the soul. However, research into the number of people believing Hell shows that, in the past 50 years, belief in Hell has dropped dramatically.

As mentioned in the rationale, the reason for a decline in the belief in Hell is most likely to be the general secularisation of the country. This decline in religion is evident through a number of means. Firstly disengagement; the decline in the power of the church, this is evident as in the past, the church was a major employer, much like it is in a number of third world countries such as Uganda today. It used to be a major employer; teaching people to read through bible stories and songs, providing information about local events and news, teaching crafts and back in medieval times, even discovering the facts of science, however, in the present day, these roles have been taken over by other, secular, organisations, for example, schools educate young children and a number of these have little, even no involvement in the church, the media provides information about news from the whole world and a number of secular organisations and charities provide craft activities in the evenings and at weekends, this shows the churches decline in power and the process of secularisation.

Secondly, there is the process of desacrilisation whereby peoples’ thoughts, attitudes and beliefs are no longer focussed on the church and on religion due to the mass publication and understanding of scientific facts. For example, people no longer believe in creation due to the wide publication of the theory of evolution; to the logical and rational minds of humans, something which can be fully explained seems more likely than that of the metaphysical. This therefore shows the process of desacrilisation and thus secularisation in this country.

As well as this, attendance to religious events has declined in recent years for example, the number of young people who attend Sunday School has fallen from 55% in 1900 to just 4% in 2000 (Brierly [2000]), however, this could be attributed to the expansion of the church in terms of holding more mid week events and therefore giving young people the chance to attend church youth groups on days other than Sundays. Yet this does not explain the decline in church marriages and the decrease in those who are members of a religion and therefore it can be seen that secularisation is occurring at least in the UK and that this is therefore leading to a decline in the belief in Hell as, according to Wilson “the decline in organised religious participation indicates a way in which the churches are losing direct influence over the ideas and activities of man”

The views of post modernists such as Wilson can be logically concluded as seeing the decline in the belief in Hell as a good thing for society. According to those such as Wilson, the decline in the belief in Hell allows people to exercise their free will as they no longer feel afraid of eternal punishment for their wrongdoings. This consequently allows them to conduct their lives in the way that they want. However, this could then lead to a less integrated society and a breakdown of community. This is due to the fact that if all exercise their free will, then it is unlikely that they will respect others wishes and thus they will become isolated, leading to an anarchical society.

This is the view of Functionalists such as Talcott Parsons. They see the decline in Hell as the reason for the current increase in juvenile delinquency because a lack of belief in Hell induces a lack of fear of eternal punishment for their wrongdoings. This therefore means that people lose the moral guidelines that are found in religion (as mentioned in the rationale) and so there is no reason for them to not exercise their free will. Due to this feeling that they may exercise their free will, young people in today’s society frequently break laws set out by the government and expect little or no punishment. This thus leads to the rise in juvenile delinquency that we see today and so it is important that a study is conducted into the effects people’s beliefs about Hell have on their lives so that it can be known whether the above views are correct.

New Right sociologists such as John Redwood also hold this view, but believe the link between the lack of belief in Hell and juvenile delinquency occurs differently. They believe that the lack of belief in Hell (coupled with an over-generous welfare system) led to the creation of 1960s values such as the condoning of cohabitation and homosexuality and the following of pop music which often glorifies shootings and other forms of juvenile delinquency.

Although the research mentioned above shows a dramatic drop in the number of people who believe in Hell, it could be argued that there is actually starting to be a slow increase in the belief in Hell, due to the recent growth and spread of Religious Fundamentalism in places such as the Middle East and in the USA where church membership has trebled since the 1960s. Religious Fundamentalism is characterised by a literal interpretation of holy texts and strict adherence to the laws set out in these texts which hence means that any verse mentioning the existence of Hell, for example “And death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death, even the lake of fire. And if any was not found written into the book of life, he was cast into the lake of fire.” [Revelation 20:14-15] and ‘Then He will say to those on His left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels’.’ [Matthew 25:41], would be taken literally as meaning that Hell exists, and would evoke in people the fear of doing wrong that leads to the strict adherence of laws that is so commonly seen in Religious Fundamentalism.

However, with the decrease in general religious belief, it would be of interest to see the comparison of religious people who believe in Hell to non-religious people who believe in Hell.

This is a preview of the whole essay

However, with the decrease in general religious belief, it would be of interest to see the comparison of religious people who believe in Hell to non-religious people who believe in Hell.

One point of interest related to the growth of Religious Fundamentalism and the organisation of religion in general is the prominence of patriarchy. As Religious Fundamentalism promotes the value of men and undermines women and religion in general is male dominated, it appears important to look at the prevalence of the belief in Hell in males compared to in females. It would seem reasonable to assume that as Religious Fundamentalism is male dominated, it would be the males who believe most strongly in Hell due to their strict obedience to their faith. However, in western countries, religion is more often followed by women and so there is some conflict as to what results would come from this question, making this an important area to study. As a side note, it would also be interesting, because of the male dominance of Religious Fundamentalism and the fact that in the West it is generally accepted that more females are religious, to see whether more males or females are religious and so this will also be covered in this study.

Methodology

This study aims to discover the distribution of the belief in Hell in society. As stated in the rationale and the context, it will focus on the distribution of the belief in Hell between religious and non-religious, male and female members of society and whether these people’s beliefs have an effect on their lives or not.

In order to investigate this topic, this study will make use of a questionnaire containing both closed and open-ended questions, this allows the comparison of data (quantitative data from closed-ended questions) and reasons for the results (qualitative data from open-ended questions). The questionnaire will therefore be using a mix of positivist and interpretivist methods. Positivists believe that studies should make use of quantitative data as it allows greater reliability and allows the generalisation of results to the rest of society whereas interpretivists believe that studies should focus on qualitative data to ensure the validity of the results. This therefore means that this study should be both valid and reliable. The questionnaire will be anonymous as people are more likely to answer truthfully if it is not known who they are; this therefore makes the study more valid as it will gain more accurate results, and as a questionnaire is less-time consuming than methods such as interviews, thus allowing extra time for the processing of data.

The questionnaire will start by asking whether the participant is religious or not. This causes a problem as in sociology there is a large debate as to the meaning of the term religion and thus as to the meaning of the term religious. Karl Marx provides the viewpoint that religion is ‘the opiate of the people’ as it teaches that the bourgeoisie deserve their place at the top of society and that the proletariat should be content with their place, it also, according to Marx, legitimises these inequalities through methods such as the teaching of Christian songs. Durkheim however sees religion as "a unified system of beliefs and practices relative to sacred things, that is to say, things set apart and forbidden – beliefs and practices which unite into one single moral community called a Church, all those who adhere to them." However, this definition is not as simple as it first seems, Durkheim views religion more as a celebration of society than of a following of a deity. According to Durkheim, religion is the acknowledgement by human beings of our social lives and it is therefore an expression of the collective consciousness, an idea made popular by Karl Jung.

Due to this variation in sociological definitions of religion and thus religious, the term religious will take the dictionary definition in this study and mean that the person is ‘of or concerned with religion’ something that will be defined by the following questions (questions 1-5) that they will complete if they answered yes to question 1. Question 1 is included so that a comparison can be made between the number of religious people who believe in Hell and the number of non-religious people who believe in Hell; and issue of great interest due to the growth of Religious Fundamentalism in the east, and secularisation in the west. The next set of questions will be asking whether the participant believes in Hell or not (In this case Hell will be defines by the person’s own beliefs) and why (questions 6-7) which is the basis of this study, participants who answer no to question one will be directed to this question as the in-between questions will be on the details of the participant’s religion. The final questions will be asking to what extent the participant’s belief in Hell affects their life and how it affects their life (questions 8-10), this is important to see whether the Functionalists are correct about their belief that the decline in the belief in Hell is causing an increase in juvenile delinquency; if the participants claim that their belief has no effect on their life and that it does not stop them from doing wrong, then it would appear that the Functionalists are correct and that juvenile delinquency is increasing due the decline in the belief in Hell, if they claim that it prevents them from committing crimes then it would appear that the Functionalists are incorrect.

The questionnaire should not raise any ethical concerns due to the fact that it is anonymous and therefore the results cannot be traced back to any one person. Consent will also be required from any person who fills in the questionnaire and there will a short explanation of what the questionnaire contains to ensure that the participant is giving informed consent. Once the questionnaires have been completed, they will be collected by the researcher thus ensuring the confidentiality of the questionnaires and the ethical soundness of this study.

The participants for this study will be selected using opportunistic sampling of sixth form students situated in Sandown High School Library as this is not a time consuming method and as it will be more practical than other forms of sampling. It was decided that 10 male and 10 female participants would be sufficient to obtain a range of ideas that are relevant to this school and to compare participant’s thoughts on the subject of Hell. This will mean that the results maybe able to be generalised to the rest of the sixth form at Sandown High School, but will unfortunately not represent the views of the lower school years or of any other high school and so cannot be generalised to such, however, it can be suggested that there should not be a significant difference in the views of the sixth form at this high school compared to any other sixth form in the country, because all the people would have the same kind of life.

It is expected that some problems will be encountered in the study, for example, as the method used is a questionnaire, the researcher will have no control over how the form is filled out and it may be filled out incorrectly if questions are not worded clearly, this would then affect the validity of the results. As well as this, only people who are interested in the subject of the questionnaire may consent to fill one in, therefore meaning that there would not be a representative range of participants in the study.

Results

The method used in the study could be seen as a reliable method; the questionnaire can be easily reproduced (See Appendix Figure 1.1) and it will be easy to repeat the opportunistic sampling that was used in this study, however, the results may not be the same if the study was repeated and so it cannot be seen as completely reliable. The method was used consistently throughout the study and it was easy to collate responses for comparison due to the flexibility of the questions. As well as this, the method may not have been entirely valid; participants may have experienced the Hawthorne effect where they give the answers that they believe the researcher wanted, this would have the affected the validity of the study as the answers given would not have been completely true. Another issue with this study is that the results cannot be generalised past sixth form students at Sandown High School, Isle of Wight as no other age groups or high schools were studied, as well as this, due to the fact that the participants were selected from the library, it could be seen that the participants are not typical people.

Despite this, the quantitative results of the study can still be seen as reliable, that is, ‘yielding the same or compatible results in different clinical experiments or statistical trials.’ The results also reflect research that was mentioned in both the rationale and the context and so can be assumed to be typical results that would be repeated should the study be used again. The qualitative results however, may not be as reliable, as with another sample, the results collected may be different.

The results for the study are presented below.

Fig 1.1 – Graph of the results of question 1 and the gender of participants showing the number of religious and non-religious males compared to the number of religious and non-religious females.

The graph above is an analysis of the results of question one, and the gender of the participant filling out the questionnaire. It can be seen from the graph above that the same number of males and females are religious out of the sample selected. This shows therefore that the sample is not biased and that there is an equal distribution of religious people between the two genders making the results more valid. It also suggests, that at least in the sixth form of Sandown High School, religion is not male dominated as suggested by the research into Religious Fundamentalism mentioned in the context and the organisation of religion as a whole, but also that it is not female-dominated which is what was expected due to the prominence of women in churches in the west.

Out of those who are religious, it could be seen from the answers to questions 2 and 3 that one male was Buddhist, one Roman Catholic, and one belonged to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, however, it was a surprise to see that the Buddhist and the Roman Catholic claimed that their religion does not really affect their life. Interestingly, the member of the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter Day Saints claimed that their religion made a large difference to their life, and was indeed the only participant to claim such influence of their religion in their life, a result which will be discussed in the analysis of question 8 (see page 15). On the other hand, out of those who are religious, one female was Roman Catholic, and two Christian.

Questions 4 and 5 were not of interest to this study and were added so that participants could not determine which questions would be used in the study and so were more likely to give truthful answers rather than trying to affect the validity of the results.

Fig 1.2 – Graph of the results to question 6 showing the overall number of people who believe in Hell compared to the overall number of people who do not believe in Hell.

The graph above is an analysis of question 6. It can be seen from the graph that out of the 20 participants studied, only 8 believe in hell. This is of significance because it suggests that the functionalists may be right; the 12 people who do not believe in Hell would have no reason to obey the government apart from fear of punishment on earth as they would not fear eternal punishment. This could therefore lead to the increase in juvenile delinquency that is evident in today’s society, this view will be analysed graph below (See page 15)

Fig 1.3 – Graph of question 6 and the gender of participants showing the number of females who believe in Hell compared to the number of males who believe in Hell.

The graph above is an analysis of question 6 and the gender of the participants. It can be seen from the graph 30% of males believe in hell compared to 50% of females, a difference of 20%. This is worth of note as it shows that even though religious organisations are generally patriarchal (as mentioned in the context), still more women believe in the literal existence of Hell. All males gave the same answer as to why they believed Hell exists and that is that ‘they like to think that there’s justice in the next life’, whereas there were two answers from those who believed that Hell did not exist. Most asked if Hell exists ‘where is it?’ however, two claimed that they believed in reincarnation rather than Hell, showing some religious diversity in the sixth form at Sandown High School, and one asked ‘how can someone be judged alone on their beliefs?’ though they did believe that ‘they would be sent to purgatory until they repent’. These views are all common views stated when you ask why people do not believe in Hell.

The females on the other hand, when asked why they believed in Hell, gave very varied answers. Three answered the same as the males by saying that they ‘believe there has to be a place for the evil in this world’, one because ‘my religion tells me to’ and one because they ‘believe that Hell exists in the mind and that an individual creates their own version of Hell’.

It is worthy of note that one female stated her reason as being because ‘my religion tells me to’. This suggests that some people still follow their religion without question; a characteristic more usually associated with the Middle Ages, and if this study was progressing further it would be interesting to discuss this more with the participant.

Those females who claimed they did not believe in Hell again gave very varied answers. One stated a more scientific version of the male answer ‘where is it?’, giving a geological answer as to why Hell cannot be in the centre of the earth; ‘the hot core where Hell is supposed to be is solidifying’ however, she then went on to express a view echoed by three of the other females who had stated non-belief in Hell. This view is that Hell is a ‘device to control’ and that ‘people created the idea of Hell in order to maintain morality’. This suggests a study of the Middle Ages where ‘Hell has been a way of reminding the adventurous souls of their eventual fate if they stray too far on their own spiritual journeys. The descent into hell has been one way of reminding the devout of the perils of salvation on any other terms than those offered by the church. That vision has served political purposes in reminding kings of their duties to the church, and it has reminded sensitive and gifted souls of the perils of making up one’s faith on one’s own terms’ [The Blackwell Companion to The Sociology of Religion p338], if this study was progressing further, it would be of interest to look further into this view. The last female stated they did not believe in Hell ‘because I don’t believe that the ‘afterlife’ is separated into two parts as in the heaven and hell aspects...I believe that everyone would go to the same place and then the actions taken after would depend on your past actions’. This is a different view to any of those expressed so far and seems to echo ideas of purgatory from Roman Catholicism, it would be of great interest to study this idea further and thus be able to truly analyse it.

Fig 1.4 – Graph of the results to question 6 with question 1 showing the number of religious people who believe in Hell compared to the number of non-religious people who believe in Hell.

The graph above is an analysis of question 6 taking into account the details of question 1. Its shows that only 50% of religious people believe in Hell compared to 29% of non-religious people believe in hell, this is an interesting result as it means that 29% of those, who claim to not follow a religion in fact believe in a religious teaching of Hell. As well as that, it means that 40% of those who follow a religion do not fully believe their religion (one religious person was Buddhist; Buddhism contains no teachings on Hell and so the follower is exempt from this statistic) It could be claimed that, at least in the sixth form of Sandown High School, Religious Fundamentalism is not a dominating factor. This is because of the literal interpretation of the scriptures associated with Religious Fundamentalism as mentioned in the Context above. If Religious Fundamentalism was a dominating factor in these results then it would be expected that more people would hold a literal interpretation of the scriptures and believe in Hell, as it is, few people believe in Hell and so it could be assumed that Religious Fundamentalism as an effective force in this sixth form could be ignored.

Fig 1.5 – Graph of question 8 showing how people overall feel their belief about Hell affects their life.

The graph is an analysis of question 1. It can be seen from this graph that the majority of people (14 out of 20) feel their belief in Hell does not affect their life. The reasons for this will be detailed in the breakdown of the graph below.

Fig 1.6 – Graph of question 8 with male gender showing how males feel their belief about Hell affects their life.

The graph above is an analysis of question 8 and the male gender. As can be seen, the 1 person out of all participants who felt their belief about Hell affected their life was male. This is an unusual statistic to obtain as it is generally females who believe in Hell (as can be seen in Fig 1.3) and so it would be reasonable to assume that they would also feel this belief affects their life. However, this is not the case. The reason given for why the male feels their belief about Hell affects their life is because they ‘want to live in the best way they can’. One reason that this could be the case is that the male in question comes from a background of the Church of Jesus Christ and the Latter Day Saints, which traditionally holds a very literal interpretation of the Bible and so has strong beliefs about Hell, however, the none of the females appear to come from strongly religious families and so would not be as worried about Hell, again suggesting that Religious Fundamentalism is not common in sixth form.

Interestingly the two males who claimed that their belief in Hell sometimes affected their life were both non-religious, but both believed in Hell anyway. Their reasons for their belief in hell sometimes affecting their life were that they ‘believe in doing the right thing’ although ‘it’s more my conscience that keeps me on the right path’, and ‘because Hell does not seem like a fun place be so I try not to do anything that would get me sent to Hell’ this person felt that ‘the belief in Hell makes me try to do what’s right most of the time’. Due to this it appears that they believe in Hell but also listen to their conscience rather than letting their belief in Hell affect their actions all the time.

Those who claimed that their belief about Hell did not affect their life generally followed the idea set out by one participant who said that ‘what ever happens to you ‘afterwards’, you live life by your morals, this should not be affected by fear of something that could happen’. Therefore, it can be seen that although these participants do not feel that their belief in Hell affects their life, they do not feel that this gives them the right to commit crimes, consequently undermining the Functionalist argument that a decline in the belief in Hell leads to juvenile delinquency as this study shows that people still live to morals even if they do not believe in Hell. It would be of interest, if this study was extended, to interview those who felt that their belief about Hell did not affect their life but who felt they lived by their morals to discover where they felt these morals come from.

Fig 1.7 – Graph of question 8 with female gender showing how females feel their belief about Hell affects their life.

This graph is an analysis of question 8 taking into account the female gender. It shows that 7 females feel that their belief about Hell does not affect their life, and at first glance this does not seem surprising as there were seven females that claimed they were not religious. However, 4 of those who claim their belief about Hell does not affect their life actually believed in Hell, and 2 of those were two of the three females who claimed that they were religious. Their reasons for this belief were interesting. One stated that they did not feel their belief affected their life because they simply did not want to have ‘that almost threat of burning in Hell for eternity’, instead they claimed that it was ‘the morality and values of the religion’ that stopped them doing wrong. This leads to an interesting side point as it suggests that the functionalists and the post modernists are incorrect. The functionalists are incorrect because the decline in the belief in Hell has not caused this person to do wrong, instead, they felt that they should still listen to the morality and values of their religion and the post-modernists are incorrect because the lack of belief in Hell has not liberated this person as they still feel bound to the morals and values of their religion. The other person who claimed their belief in Hell did not affect their life said that this was because they ‘don’t think or consider things that will send me to Hell’ however they do not give any more information and so this answer cannot be analysed, due to this, it may have been better to interview participants after they had completed the questionnaire.

Out of the three females who claimed that their belief in Hell sometimes affected their life, two were not religious, however they claimed that their belief about Hell still sometimes affected their life as they ‘tried to avoid behaviour which will lead to negative effects on me or others’ which is presumably due to a fear of Hell. This is interesting because it means that not only religious people feel their life is affected by their belief in Hell and so it can be assumed that belief in Hell is still remnant from the times when most of society was religious in some way.

Evaluation

From this study, a number of conclusions can be made. The study shows that 30% of males believe in hell compared to 50% of females, thus answering the aim set out in the rationale and showing that more females than males believe in Hell.

In answer to the second aim set out in the rationale, it can be seen that 50% of religious people

believe in Hell, compared to 31% of non-religious people showing that more religious people

believe in Hell than non-religious people.

The final aim needs to be split up into several parts. The study shows that 50% of females say

that they believe in hell, yet 70% of females feel that their beliefs about hell do not affect their

life. Therefore, 40% of those who believe in hell are not affected by their belief.

As well as this out of the 30% of males who believe in hell, only 1 believes the belief affects their life, the other two believe that it sometimes affects their lives. The other 70% of males feel that their beliefs about hell do not affect their life, thus showing that very few men feel that their belief in Hell does not affect them. Therefore, it can be seen that although these participants do not feel that their belief in Hell affects their life, they do not feel that this gives them the right to commit crimes, consequently undermining the Functionalist argument that a decline in the belief in Hell leads to juvenile delinquency as this study shows that people still live to morals even if they do not believe in Hell and backing up the Post-Modernist view that this decline in the belief in Hell is a good thing for society as it allows people to exercise their free will.

This study could be seen as reliable as it used a reliable method; the questionnaire could be

easily reproduced (See Appendix Figure 1.1) and it would be easy to repeat the opportunistic

sampling that was used in this study as the method was used consistently throughout the study

and it was easy to collate responses for comparison due to the flexibility of the questions. The

quantitative results of the study could also be seen as reliable; they reflect research that was

mentioned in both the rationale and the context and so can be assumed to be typical results

that would be repeated should the study be used again. The qualitative results however, may not be as reliable, as with another sample, the results collected may be different.

However, the study may not have been entirely valid as participants may have experienced the

Hawthorne effect where they give the answers that they believe the researcher wanted, this

would have the affected the validity of the study as the answers given would not have been

completely true. Another issue with this study is that the results could not be generalised past

sixth form students at Sandown High School, Isle of Wight as no other age groups or high

schools were studied, as well as this, due to the fact that the participants were selected from

the library, it could be seen that the participants are not typical people. As well as this, my own views may have affected the results. I do believe in Hell and this belief affects my life. This therefore means that the results may not have been interpreted entirely subjectively. Nevertheless, this is not a large issue as the results still differ greatly from my own beliefs and so it can be assumed that my own beliefs did not majorly affect the interpretation of the results and thus this means that the results can still be seen as valid and reliable results.

If this study was repeated, there would be a number of things that would change. The

researcher would have to hand the out the questionnaire and ask them to post it back, or hand

it in to a neutral place to try and cancel out the consequences of the Hawthorne Effect.

If this study was continued, it would be helpful to extend the study using triangulation. It would

useful to follow up the questionnaires with interviews to further investigate the answers given

in the questionnaires and also to use participant observation to see how peoples’ beliefs about

Hell affect their lives. It would also be helpful to continue the study and look at why people no

longer believe in Hell and to discover if this lack of belief in Hell affects religion’s place as a

source of moral guidelines or values.

Appendices

Fig 1.1 Example Questionnaire

Works Cited

[Online] // Vexen. - 06 30, 2008. - http://www.vexen.co.uk/UK/religion.html#28

[Online] // Vexen. - 06 30, 2008. - http://www.vexen.co.uk/UK/religion.html#14

[Online] // One Snow. - 07 02, 2008. - http://www.onenewsnow.com/Journal/stories.aspx?id=75927 .

[Book Section] / auth. Avila Teresa of. - 1957.

[Report] / auth. Brierly. - 2000.

All Things Bright and Beautiful [Online] // Wikipedia. - 03 30, 2009. - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_Things_Bright_and_Beautiful .

BBC news [Online] // BBC. - 11 02, 2008. - http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7468377.stm .

Civilization in Transition [Book Section] / auth. Jung C.G // The Collected Works of C. G. Jung. - Princeton : Princeton University Press, 1970. - Vol. 10.

Evil dead gone shooting lyrics [Online] // Lyricstime. - 12 09, 2008. - http://www.lyricstime.com/evildead-gone-shooting-lyrics.html.

The elementary forms of religious Life [Book] / auth. Durkheim E. - Glencoe, Illinois : KE Fields Trans., 1995.

Why are women more religious than men? [Online] // Fazeer. - 11 02, 2008. - http://fazeer.wordpress.com/2006/12/10/why-are-women-more-religious-than-men/ 02/11/08.

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32% still believe in hell (2003), although a 2008 poll puts that value at under 20% (Vex08)

1989-2005 Total Change (Christianity): -34%

(Vex08)

Seventy percent of the people...are nowhere to be found in church on a regular basis for at least a year between the ages of 18 and 22... “Fifty to eighty percent of high school students walk away.” (One08)

‘Hell is simply a state of the soul in which one contemplates for ever the object of a hopeless desire that is made all the more intense by aggravated suffering (Turner 1993:93)’ The Blackwell Companion to Sociology of Religion p. 340-341

32% still believe in hell (2003), although a 2008 poll puts that value at under 20% ( 30/06/2008)

From 60% in 1981 to 39% in 2001

From 27% in 1900 to 10% in 2000 (Brierly, 2000)

“The number of under-18s dealt with by the criminal justice system has risen by more than a quarter since 2002, figures have revealed.” (BBC08)

‘ A loaded shotgun with no turning back, toilgate your victim, make him nervous and scared’ (Evi08)

‘one day when I was at prayer, I found myself, without knowing how, plunged, as I thought, into hell. I understood that the Lord wished me to see the place that the devils had ready for me there, and that I had earned by my sins. All that happened in the briefest second; but even if I should live for many years, I do not think I could possibly forget it...I felt fire inside my soul, the nature of which is beyond my powers of description, and my physical tortures were intolerable. I have endured the severest bodily pains in the course of my life, the worst, so the doctors say, that it is possible to suffer and live, among them the contraction of my nerves during paralysis, and many other agonies of various kinds, including some, as I have said, caused by the devil. But none of them was in any way comparable to the pains I felt at that time, especially when I realised that they would be endless and unceasing. But even this was nothing to the agony of my soul, an oppression, a suffocation, and an affliction so agonising, and accompanied by such a hopeless distress and misery that no words I could find would adequately describe it. To say that it was if my soul were being continuously torn from my body is as nothing.’ (Avila, 1957 p. 237)

1989-2005 Total Change (Christianity): -34%

(Vex08)

In spite of this, the British Social Attitudes Survey shows that more people believe in the devil than Hell, therefore although it is said that belief in Hell is increasing through the following of Satanism, it is more likely that it is leading to an increase in belief in the devil. Having said this, Religious Fundamentalism is still causing an gradual increase in the belief in Hell and so it is possible that the problems outlined above may not exist. Because of this possibility, a study into the numbers of people believing in Hell and the way people’s beliefs about Hell affect their lives is still imperative in this day and age.

(Why08)

“The rich man at his castle, The poor man at his gate, God made them, high or lowly, And order’d their estate” (All09)