Religion: Is Hell Necessary?

Hell broke loose in Pasco, Wash., spread through the Episcopal District of Spokane, and gave the bishop something to worry about.

The trouble began with a sermon in Pasco's Church of Our Saviour by energetic Rector Charles Lester Kinsolving, 30. "Hell," he preached, "is a damnable doctrine—responsible for a large measure of this world's hatred. According to this doctrine, God, who commands us to love our enemies, plays the hypocrite by damning his enemies. This in turn stimulates the hatred of God by people who abhor hypocrisy—and it gives sanction to our hatred of certain selected enemies."

Different from the Rest. Across the...