But it's the fear of hell that puts the community together.

@RudolfJelin what about religions that don't have a "hell"? Or communities without that concept?

@RudolfJelin It's not the fear of hell that puts the community together. It's social rules that benefit the community and individuals. For example you give up your right to beat up members of the community and in turn you don't get beaten up by them. Since they are more than you that's a good deal. And if someone breaks the deal they get punished by the community. Later, this deal was written down as "Thou shalt not beat thy neighbor, else hell awaits" or something like that, but it's the benefit and punishment of the deal that keeps people together, not the religious word.

@RudolfJelin: If it's only the fear of hell that unites communities, then every atheist would by definition be antisocial and without morality. That is clearly not the case. Similarly, animals have no concept of an afterlife yet some still live in groups/packs. A fear of hell is one way to indirectly unite people, but that doesn't mean it's the only way.

So, to summarise: "Hell" is Other People

@Chronocidal, quite the opposite. Hell is isolation, we're a social species.

@Separatrix Jean-Paul Satre, Huis Clos - the characters are trapped by the judgements of their cellmates, which is exactly the sort of "community enforcement" your answer talks about. (rot13, for spoilers) Gur ebbz gung gurl ner va vf abg npghnyyl ybpxrq, ohg gurl ershfr gb yrnir orpnhfr bs n creprvirq fbpvny cerffher - sbe rknzcyr, Wbfrcu jvyy abg yrnir hagvy ur pna pbaivapr Vaèf gung ur vf abg n pbjneq. Your answer is actually the correct interpretation of the quote, not the common misunderstanding of people who have not read the book.

@Chronocidal, you caught me, I've never read it, but a quick summary suggests both are true, we are bound by our social mores and understanding of others' perceptions of ourselves, but being removed from that social control is psychologically troublesome in other ways.

@Separatrix that's also the orthodox Christian definition of Hell. Simply isolation from God.

I know this is only WorldBuilding, but your theology is a bit off with the whole "the cross technically absolved them of any requirement to follow the rules".

If someone is good because they're scared (of Hell), I'm concerned; if someone is good because they have a conscience, I'm much happier. Someone good because they're intrinsically good is a "better" person than someone good because they're afraid of being caught.

This answer betrays a lack of understanding of Christianity, and the narrative of the Bible, though it's a common understanding from those outside Christianity, or who have a nominal connection but have never studied it or read through the whole Bible (and probably Islam too). Daniel-耶稣活着's answer shows how a thorough reading of the Bible refutes this misunderstanding, and Nosajimiki's answer shows the motivation the Bible gives.

@DanW, Honestly I was expecting more pushback on this, but anyway. Neither of the answers you refer to explain why some laws are arbitrarily kept, but most are discarded, outside it being a cultural norm. Could you explain? Why homosexuality and not pork or the laws of the sabbath? Why not tattoos which is only a chapter after homosexuality? Is there any scripture that tells you which ones to keep and which to drop?

@Ghotir True. And, interestingly, the focus of Jesus talks, and the bible in general, is definitely not about hell. They talk about God, the relation of humans to God and vice versa, love, guilt, forgiveness, the kingdom of God, etc. pp., but mentions of hell, the devil, etc. are scarce. Like you, the biblical God seems much happier with people who do good things because they love, not because they fear punishment.

@OrangeDog I dare say that this "orthodox" definition of Hell as "simply isolation from God" is pretty much an invention of the last centuries. Before that, and according to Christ's own words, it was your typical fire and other assorted tortures all the way through eternity.

@Separatrix The Mosaic Law can be broken down into two parts, the Ceremonial Law (which primarily served to keep Israel separate from the surrounding nations) and the Moral Law, which has to do with eternal ethics and morality. Laws about unclean animals and the like only applied to Israel, and only until the Messiah came. The Moral Law, on the other hand still applies today. This includes adultery, murder, etc. (I doubt you will find anyone who thinks Christians are absolved of that part of the OT). The sin of homosexuality is included in this moral part of the law.

@LoganP98, which is where we come back full circle to my answer, because morals are vague amorphous things defined by the society and enforced by society. Homosexuality, as we know from Greek and Roman culture, could just as easily have been placed under setting apart along with tattoos and seething a kid in it's mother's milk.

@RudolfJelin In Buddhism it could be said that life is hell because life is suffering. Hinduism also has no concept of hell, they don't have the same negative view of attachment that Buddhists do. So Hinduism generally doesn't have a hell, and yet has a strong storytelling tradition about moral questions and duty. And atheists and agnostics certainly don't believe in hell. It certainly seems an unduly miserable existence to spend life motivated only by fear of punishment... instead of something, anything more dignified or positive. And hell certainly is an evil thing for a God to do.

@Separatrix Ehhh, something as integral to creation as sexuality pretty clearly belongs in the moral sphere, and other parts of the Bible add context as to why homosexuality is a sin. But I doubt getting into that would be beneficial at this point, so I'll just leave it at the breakdown between the Moral and Ceremonial laws, because that answers your question.

I posted my comment to just show another point that would be possible to use, not to negate the (indeed very good) answer of Separatrix, but y'all just crucified (haha) me instead. Maybe it's also the common hate of something that helps unite communities. :-)

@RudolfJelin, there's recent research that shows the factor that prevents crime is the chance of getting caught, not the relative punishment once caught. Which makes Hell actually pointless in the human psyche, but that's an answer for someone else to give ;)