What Religions Do Not Believe in Hell: Judaism, Christianity & Islam Compared

Judaism's relationship with hell is genuinely complicated, and it's fair to say that classical Judaism does not believe in hell in the way Christianity typically frames it. The Hebrew word most often translated "hell" is Sheol (שְׁאוֹל), which many scholars — including the 19th-century lexicographer Wilhelm Gesenius — argue simply means "the grave" or the realm of the dead, with no strong moral valence Isaiah 14:9. The KJV itself acknowledges this ambiguity in its marginal notes Psalms 55:15.

The Sadducees, a prominent Jewish sect of the Second Temple period, denied any afterlife whatsoever — no resurrection, no angels, no spirit Acts 23:8. The Pharisees, by contrast, affirmed resurrection Acts 23:8, which eventually shaped rabbinic Judaism's concept of Gehinnom — a purgatorial state lasting at most twelve months for most souls, not an eternal torment. Modern liberal Jewish denominations largely set aside afterlife speculation entirely, focusing on ethical life in the present world.

Isaiah 14:9 does use Sheol dramatically, depicting it as stirred up to receive a fallen king Isaiah 14:9, but most modern Jewish commentators read this as poetic imagery rather than a literal geography of punishment. The passage in Proverbs warning that a certain path leads to Sheol Proverbs 7:27 similarly functions as moral metaphor in rabbinic reading.

Christianity is the tradition most associated with a robust, literal doctrine of hell, though even here there's significant internal disagreement. The New Testament Greek word Hades (translated "hell" in the KJV) appears in passages like Luke 10:15, where Jesus warns Capernaum it will be "thrust down to hell" Luke 10:15. The Book of Revelation describes a dramatic final judgment in which "death and hell were cast into the lake of fire," identified as "the second death" Revelation 20:14 — imagery that has anchored traditional Christian eschatology for centuries.

However, not all Christians believe in hell. Universalists — a tradition with roots in Origen (c. 185–254 CE) and more recently theologians like Thomas Talbott and David Bentley Hart — argue that God's love ultimately redeems all souls. Annihilationists, including many evangelical scholars like John Stott (1921–2011), contend that the unsaved are simply destroyed rather than tormented eternally. Conditionalists point to the phrase "second death" in Revelation 20:14 Revelation 20:14 as evidence that hell means cessation of existence, not endless suffering.

Mainstream Catholic, Orthodox, and most Protestant traditions do affirm a real, eternal hell. But the diversity within Christianity means it's too simple to say the religion uniformly "believes in hell" in one specific sense.

Islam affirms hell — called Jahannam — with considerable detail and conviction. The Quran references it in dozens of suras, and it's one of the six articles of Islamic faith to believe in the Day of Judgment and its consequences. Surah 44:21 records a divine ultimatum that implies serious consequences for unbelief Quran 44:21, and the broader Quranic context consistently links rejection of God with punishment in the fire.

That said, Islamic scholars have long debated whether Jahannam is eternal for all its inhabitants. A significant minority position — associated with scholars like Ibn Taymiyya (1263–1328 CE) and his student Ibn al-Qayyim — argues that even hell will eventually end, or that Muslims who enter it will ultimately be released. The majority Sunni position, however, holds that disbelievers remain in Jahannam permanently, while sinful Muslims may be purified and eventually enter paradise.

Unlike Judaism's ambivalence about Sheol Psalms 55:15 or Christianity's internal universalist debates, mainstream Islam has historically maintained one of the most consistent and detailed doctrines of hell among the three Abrahamic faiths. There's no major Islamic denomination that fully rejects the concept.