Charlie and Thanatos:

hey thanks for the responses--and sincerely, no need to apologize, thanatos.

But I had no intention of advancing a logical or even necessarily rational line of argument for or against the existence of God; better minds than mine have tried that one and failed. I was really offering more of a social argument. If Christians consign Picasso or Dogen or Socrates to Hell, they just don't impress me. And if there really is a Christian God who behaves in this way, he's got no taste, and I find that not only difficult to believe, but kind of repugnant. I mean, that would make God more like the Biggest Stalinist rather than a really impressive Deity, you know?

I mean, don't get me wrong, if there is an all powerful deity out there I guess he can go ahead and do whatever he wants, I got no say in the matter.

It's got nothing to do with bad apples. Ghandi would go to Hell for the simple fact that it seems to me--to my understanding of Christianity, such as it is anyway--that Ghandi more than likely did not accept Jesus as his personal Savior, and since there is no other way to get into Heaven, Ghandi wouldn't get in.

There's nothing illogical about that. It's just lame.

And by the way, there are a huge number of devout Muslims who would quibble with your point re: Osama, thanatos.