How would you make an allied Hell of all the world's religions?

[b-dog]

I am curious for ideas on how to make an allied Hell for all the world's various religions. Greek, Norse, Celtic, Egyptian, Christian, Muslim, Jewish etc. Maybe Hell could just be a receptacle for all of the enemies of the gods? Maybe there are different parts from different cosmologies but somehow they are bound together? They have now some unity in aligning together to try to defeat the forces of good? With an allied Hell, people who worship demons can summon demons from many different cosmological allowing great varieties of demons to fight against. Just curious for ideas.

[Buzzardo]

You could use the old idea of a continent/world with many different nations, varying in size by the number of adherents each religion has in the physical world. Islands in a sea of fire (or whatever) would achieve the same effect.

[Phantasm]

I should note that not all religions have a "hell", which I take to mean "a place of eternal torment for those who lived lives worthy of punishment in the afterlife".

For example, only Tartarus, the deepest part of realm of Hades in the ancient Greek religion, was a place of torment. The majority of the realm was the Asphodel Fields, where the common person ended up, while those that lived truly virtuous or heroic lives went to the Elysian Glade, which was a paradise. All three parts were considered to be underground.

In a more contemporary example, Buddhism doesn't have a realm of eternal torment; it's "hell realm" (called Naraka) is more along the lines of the Christian Purgatory, from which the person can clear their negative karma and eventually move upwards toward heaven.

[Kyle Aaron]

Maybe Hell is just reaching Heaven and finding out that those people from that other religion are there, too.

[Phantasm]

Originally Posted by Kyle Aaron

Maybe Hell is just reaching Heaven and finding out that those people from that other religion are there, too.

Imagine that Muslim who blew himself up in an attack believing he was promised 47 virgins in Heaven for his sacrifice... only to find himself taking care of 47 infants for all eternity. (That scene in Preacher made me laugh.) Is that Heaven or Hell? :)

[jason taylor]

Originally Posted by b-dog

I am curious for ideas on how to make an allied Hell for all the world's various religions. Greek, Norse, Celtic, Egyptian, Christian, Muslim, Jewish etc. Maybe Hell could just be a receptacle for all of the enemies of the gods? Maybe there are different parts from different cosmologies but somehow they are bound together? They have now some unity in aligning together to try to defeat the forces of good? With an allied Hell, people who worship demons can summon demons from many different cosmological allowing great varieties of demons to fight against. Just curious for ideas.

You will actually find it easier to find agreement on the chief inhabitants of Hell or an equiv unpleasant afterlife then of a pleasant one. But your picture way to dramatic. Real sinners do not wake up and say, "I am making a plot against the forces of good." They just do acts of petty selfishness. Hell will be composed of pimps, liars, cheats, cowards, oathbreakers, yada, yada, yada. Rather a miserable bunch and to miserable to compose a Legion of Darkness. Whether or not Salidin the Kurd, or Ali Pasha admiral of the Sultan's fleet, or Socrates, or whatever gets there or not is beside the point. Not even all Christians think the latter sort will. Dante just put Socrates in an eternal philosopher's club in limbo which was what he wanted in the first place.

If you want a hell for all or most religions, just dump the most miserable of sinners there. You won't get anything interesting out of them though.

[jason taylor]

Originally Posted by Kyle Aaron

Maybe Hell is just reaching Heaven and finding out that those people from that other religion are there, too.

That's not so far from the truth. A true devotee should rejoice at finding out such a thing.

CS Lewis in Screwtape Letters once had demons make cocktails of all the fanatics that reached hell.

[The Colonel]

Originally Posted by tbrock1031

Imagine that Muslim who blew himself up in an attack believing he was promised 47 virgins in Heaven for his sacrifice... only to find himself taking care of 47 infants for all eternity. (That scene in Preacher made me laugh.) Is that Heaven or Hell? :)

There was a cartoon somewhere that suggested that the suicide bomber would first have to be one of the 47 virgins ... testimony from those who have been on tour in Afghanistan suggests that this may not be entirely unexpected.

Preacher as in the graphic novel series? Which scene were you thinking of?

[The Colonel]

Originally Posted by jason taylor

That's not so far from the truth. A true devotee should rejoice at finding out such a thing.

Really? Very few religions teach that "all roads lead to God" and many contradict one another ... the believer who finds that he's been comprehensively lied to would be entitled to feel confused at the very least.

[Phantasm]

Originally Posted by The Colonel

Preacher as in the graphic novel series? Which scene were you thinking of?

Yeah, the graphic novel series. I'm pretty sure it was in that series... I'm recalling a scene where someone is touring Heaven and they come across a suicide bomber that had to care for 47 screaming infants as his "reward".

... maybe it was some other graphic novel I read about the same time. I could be mistaken.