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There are two parts to any religion. There's the god bothering, heaven and hell bible bashing aspect, and then there's the community. Religion isn't just about god and belief, it's also about community, identity and belonging. This is a very powerful aspect that should never be underestimated.

It's really the community that controls your behaviour over and above what the rules actually say. You'll see this when you look closely at any religious group and compare their day to day behaviour with what's written in the rules and scriptures.

An example of this would be some Christian groups, where aspects of the old testament are quoted as the basis for holding certain positions on behaviours such as homosexuality, when the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross technically absolved them of any requirement to follow the rules of the old testament.

So why? because the community has said that this is the course of action to follow. To be a member of the group you must behave like this. The people they identify with behave like that, and so they do too.

The real enforcers of the rules are the gossiping curtain twitchers watching your every move, not what's written in the book. The punishment for failing to follow the rules of the group is expulsion from the group, social exclusion. The city dwellers among us think nothing of this, there are plenty of other groups, but in a small town or village, places where everyone is a member of the same church, it's a serious punishment.

What is "evil" from this God-battery's point of view?

It values large soul counts. So anything which brings another soul into existence is good and anything that gets in the way of new soul creation is evil. Promiscuity and drunken Bacchanalia are good. Chastity, planned-parenthood and "headaches" are all evil.

Murder which is classically considered evil doesn't actually interfere with soul counts. It just harvests an already existing soul before its time. Murder of a female of childbearing age however is the ultimate evil act. Sinners who perpetrate this most unholy act should be harvested in some lengthy and excruciating way.

Such a definition of "good" and "evil" actually makes the religion's task of encouraging "good", very easy. Promiscuity and the defense of females is hardwired into our genes. No heaven or hell would be needed to keep us virtuous within such a moral code.

All human souls come from God, and remain connected to it through a metaphysical umbilical cord. A person is born with this cord, as it is transferred to them from its mother. When that person dies, that cord draws that individual to God, allowing it to subsume the soul. It then eternally feed on it like a living battery. Every human instinctually feels this connection to their god throughout their life, confirming his existence to all.

Given this information, I can think of one thing. People who do not follow a "path" that is deemed right by their god would feel bad, an interior force that would make them feel worse and worse the more they participate actions that are against their god's value (they could still do it, they'd just feel more and more uneasy).

Think of someone walking out their dogs on leashes. The human follows a defined path. Some dogs may hate on each other and will either fight or stay away from their rivals. Some dogs may love each other, getting close and running around each other, entertwining their leashes. If a dog wants to go somewhere the human isn't going, it'll eventually feel a "pull", as the leash won't be able to extend all the way. The more the dog tries to go where the human doesn't, the more powerful the pull will get.

If the dogs want to be able to walk at ease, they will have to learn to walk together in the same direction as the human walking them. However, if too many of them try to follow another path, the human might feel pulled towards them and will diverge from the original path.

You could think of the metaphysical umbilical cords as the "leashes" and the values of a given god as the "path" taken by the human. The more someone strays away from their god, the more they feel an uncomfortable "pull" towards the right path. Each god is different and might not follow the same path (each of them is walking out their own "dogs"). You could also use the fact that some leashes might entertwine with each other as people spend time together (relationships, mortal enemies, seller/buyer, families, random encounters, etc.), to draw their lives closer and closer together, making them feel the same kind of "pull" when following a different path from one another.

Consider Luke 11:11-13

Which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a
snake instead? Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion?
If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to
your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy
Spirit to those who ask him!

Here, Jesus acknowledges that even evil people favor moral behavior towards their children. From this it can be inferred that without Hell, the legacy you leave for your family could become the primary motivator toward how you live your life.

If you also consider the old adage, "You are what you eat", then this lends itself to a strange relationship between god and man in which mankind strives to die in a state of being good and kind, because it makes their god good and kind. This would also lead to a whole new perspective on rehabilitation where no one wants anyone to die while they are still evil because it adds to the malliciousness of their own existence. In essence, Heaven and Hell still sort of exist, but they exist here on Earth as the consequences of our ancestors actions, and the lives we mortals live determine if our own children get to live in a state of Heaven or Hell.

Another possible answer lies in John 14:15:

If you love Me, keep My commandments.

For some believers, the simple call to love their god and maker is all the reason they need to avoid evil. You mention your people can feel their connection to their deity; so, if your religion were to foster a "relationship" between the living person and the divine being, then if their god asks them nicely not to do something wrong, then they are just as likely to avoid the bad behavior as if your close friend or family member were to ask you the same question.

There already exit Christian religions that don't believe in Dante's vision.

A God that would punish and torture people for all eternity is not the loving God of the Bible. For these believers, the Bible's hell is simply a name for the graves where totally unconscious bodies lie awaiting the resurrection.

At the final judgement, people will either be transformed to spiritual children of God, or will be permanently destroyed, burnt to ashes, and exist no more.

Followers do the right thing because they believe it is the right thing, not because they believe their behaviour will earn them a reward, and not because they fear punishment. They have hope of their eventual spiritual fate, but they don't fear the alternative of permanent unconscious death any more than an atheist fears being dead.

Note that I'm not evangelizing or trying to convert anyone, but you might get some useful ideas from these examples of booklets and articles on the subject:

United Church of God[]1

Philadelphia Church of God What Is Hell?

Living Church of God The Truth about Hell

As Renan suggested in the comments, your god could set things up like the Hindu or Buddhist system, where the criminal dead get recycled into lesser beings until they get it right.

Instead of lesser beings, the reincarnation would be into less fortunate circumstances for evil doers and more fortunate circumstances for the good and pious. Only those who mange to do sufficient good to break out of the wheel get a permanent place with their god. Everyone else gets drained and sent back for another round. Rechargeable batteries: cheaper in the long run.

In Mormonism, they have different levels of heaven. A lower level doesn't necessarily mean hell, just not as prestigious as the highest level. Similarly in Norse Mythology, some people go to Valhalla to be waiters/waitresses for eternity. Obviously someone would rather be served then the server, but by no means is the Valhalla Server's life hell.

A solution of combining these thoughts with yours, might lay in the level of fuel each follower provides the God; followers would make themselves the best they can be to provide the best fuel for God, allowing them selves a sense of purity on earth and accomplishment in death.

How can religions without a hell discourage evil-doing?

The same way you discourage your children from doing evil: a combination of

1. Moral teachings/parables,


2. examples of the temporal and spiritual rewards that one receives for Good Behavior,


3. examples of the temporal punishments one receives for Bad Behavior, and, finally


4. temporal punishments for Bad Behavior.

Whether those temporal punishments are enacted by the religious authorities, the secular authorities or God Himself is up to you.

Honor and Shame

Well, evil can be discouraged in several ways without necessitating a negative afterlife, though it is expedient to have one. However, it is not necessary, as evidenced by the ancient Semitic religions which had no real conception of the afterlife beyond a shadowy rest. For instance, most ancient Near Eastern cultures were very strict honor and shame cultures; societally negative actions, which can generally be called evil, were dishonorable, and led to ostracism in the community.

People could be driven to good by what is essentially divinely sanctified peer-pressure; the natural human instinct toward social acceptance, and the desire to be seen as a valued and worthwhile member of the community can encourage altruistic behavior.

The honor of the religion and the honor of the God could be linked via the religion's holy texts to the behavior of its adherents (and even without the explicit connection, outsiders will judge the deity's honor by the behavior of its devotees). This would lead to the genuine adherents wanting to demonstrate honorable behavior.

Obviously, and honor and shame system would not "keep" everyone "good," as there are always those who have no honor, and thus no shame. However, the wider religious community should be able to defend the honor of their God from these rogue elements.

I have found that writing practical examples of honor and shame cultures is difficult, because, as a U.S. citizen, the general culture is very different from any extant or previously existent honor/shame cultures; however, I don't doubt their strength. For instance, in modern Japan, families will distance themselves from deviant family members to protect the honor of the family.