The interesting thing about this story is that almost two-thirds of the clergy surveyed no longer believe in Hell as an actual place of torment, but the "astonishment" expressed is over the fact that more than a third still do:
The concept of Hell as a literal place has declined in an increasingly secular world. But what surprised Stoddart is that "there is a solid number of Scottish ministers who still believe in eternal torment.
"There are those who maintain that Hell is something that should have gone away with the thinking that the Earth was flat, but it clearly hasn't," he said.
People must be getting more sophisticated if they can be swayed from sin with hell as a mere metaphor.
