From: (No Email available)

Date: 2005-12-17 16:44:04

Comment:

Hell is, according to many religious beliefs, a place or a state of painful suffering. The English word 'hell' comes from the Teutonic 'Hel', which originally meant "to cover" and later referred to the goddess of the Norse underworld, Helgardh. Compare Anglo-Saxon helan and Latin celare = "to hide".

In many religions, after death, evildoers either suffer eternally or until they have paid for their bad deeds before reincarnation or redemption. In monotheistic religions, hell is often ruled by demons which torment the damned or is simply defined by an utter absence of God or redemptive force. Many monotheists believe in different layers of hell, and that some are sent to purgatory, or otherwise sent to suffer in hell until they repent and seek atonement. Some believe that all sent to hell can accept redemption if they repent and seek atonement, but believe that there will be those who never truly repent in spirit, and even those who reject redemption and curse God for all eternity in spite of this.

In polytheistic religions, the politics of hell can be as complicated as human politics. Many Hellenistic Neopagans believe in Tartarus, which may also be considered a version of Hell.