One of my favorite blogs, "Atheist Revolution" had a rather interesting post yesterday. The topic regards a statement from a well-known evangelist, Mark Driscoll, that all non-Christians are hell-bound. An important point made in that post is whether at least some of Driscolls followers agree with him.
This may in turn also lead to the question that for every influential fundamentalist like Driscoll who comes up with this kind of remark, how many other Christians feel the same but aren't as vocal about it as he is. Probably not very many. Fundamentalists like these usually aren't shy about expressing their hellfire opinions to anyone who will listen and of course even to those who aren't interested. Importantly though, for non-Christian theists such rhetoric may be hurtful and outrageous.
But as an atheist, I couldn't care less that some Christian fundie says that I'm going to a place that doesn't even exist. His beliefs are so wrong on so many levels that it's futile to try to have an intelligent discussion with people like that. Naturally, if you call them down with logic and reason and ask for evidence for their assertions, they'll just say that it's in the bible and may even quote chapter and verse to support their contention. If you counter with another biblical passage that contradicts their position, they'll just mumble something about "your incorrect understanding" and / or change the topic.
So what it comes down to is this: In God-centered religions, especially Christianity, there are no objective standards, just interpretations about stories that never even happened and characters who likely never existed in the first place. And debating believers on their terms in these matters is about as productive as arguing over the color of unicorns.
