How Big Is Hell?
A data-driven approach to the afterlife
58% of americans believe in a literal hell
By hell, of course, we mean that place of fire, brimstone, worms that don't die, and eternal, conscious torment that is regarded as a core Christian doctrine.Belief in the great beyond is quintessentially human. And some version of both heaven and hell have always been staples of such conversations. Heaven is where you hope your grandma and dog goes; hell is where you hope everyone you don't like goes.But let's be honest: hell is kind of wild, right? If it feels like a barbaric and antiquated concept, that's because it is a barbaric and antiquated concept. Despite a lessening belief rate amongst younger generations, and a strikingly small about of support in the Bible, the popular notion of a "fiery, eternal conscious torment" hasn't changed all that much in hundreds, even thousands, of years.So how is a seemingly outdated belief like hell still so common in today's age amongst Christians--and non-Christians alike--if there isn't any much in the way of hard evidence proving that it's even real?This got us thinking: what if there theoretically was a way to prove or disprove the existence of hell using modern scientific research techniques? What if we had access to a dataset right now that could put the issue to bed with some measure of reasonable statistical certainty?It was then that we started asking ourselves one hell of a crazy question:How many people are actually in hell?
Who the hell?
First off, it should be noted that a physical "hell" itself isn't remotely falsifiable since there aren't any metrics we can track or measure to scientifically prove or disprove it's existence.But wait, didn't we just say we had a dataset we could use? We wouldn't make you read this far if we didn't! Since we obviously can't sample a current cross-section of hell's population, we decided to start compiling data on the next best thing: hell's inputs.More commonly known as: deceased human beings.
What The Hell?
By gathering historical population data (or more correctly, "total human lives") and comparing it with religious and denominational adherence data over the centuries we realized that we could fashion ourselves a fairly robust model of hell's population based on the views and beliefs of any particular Christian denomination.To us this seems like relevant data to any Christian who hopes that the souls going to heaven outweigh the souls going to hell.Actually, we were kind of amazed no one's ever done this before.
Why The Hell?
So then, why are we wasting our time on what is quantifiably a ridiculous endeavor? Well, if the majority of modern Americans truly do believe in a literal version of hell, and if they believe that most of humankind is destined to someday go there, well, that seems like kind of a big deal to us.Hell is the type of paradigm that has the potential to have a wide impact on just about everything in modern society. From governing policy, to the environment, to how we view ourselves and other human beings.We think that an idea that far-reaching deserves a better explanation than just an opinion of an interpretation of a translation of an ancient manuscript. That powerful and persuasive of an idea deserves a full-on, analytical deep dive that, at least to our knowledge, hasn't been attempted before.