LOS ANGELES -- Preachers are downplaying hell in favor of feel-good topics like love and leadership, according to a report by The Los Angeles Times.
Harvey Cox Jr., a religious historian and professor at the Harvard Divinity School, said the mention of hell in the pulpit is at an all-time low.
"There has been a shift in religion from focusing on what happens in the next life to asking, ‘What is the quality of this life we're leading now?' " Cox said. "You can go to a whole lot of churches week after week, and you'd be startled even to hear a mention of hell."
A May 2001 Gallup poll of adults nationwide found that 71 percent believe in hell, but don't want to hear about it, according to the Times.
"It's just too negative," said Bruce Shelley, a senior professor of church history at the Denver Theological Seminary. "Churches are under enormous pressure to be consumer-oriented. Churches today feel the need to be appealing rather than demanding."
