Improvement

7-year-old suggests better Disney princesses

Thanx to Geek Feminism.

The hell you say

I grew up secular, and my introduction to the concept of Hell was A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. My immediate reaction was, "These Christians are bloody savages!" I have a mathematician's understanding of infinity, and the idea of an alleged deity torturing people forever, for real crimes let alone for pulling their pudding, struck me as monstrous, especially if, as John Calvin believed, He created them so that they couldn't help pulling their pudding.

Of course, I have since learned that many Christians have managed to retain the good parts of their religion while believing that Hell is metaphorical, or there really isn't anyone sentenced to it, or it isn't forever. People are always capable of being better (or worse) than the systems they belong to.

To my utter lack of surprise, a study has shown that belief in Hell makes people less happy.

Thanx to andrewducker