When I was growing up, I met some people who believed you would go to Hell for being gay. I think some people may be so afraid of going to Hell, they believe that even consciously thinking it’s acceptable for people to be gay, they will send them to Hell too. However, I got the impression these people only thought this way to save themselves from the Hell they believed in. This made me feel that the choice to act this way was not made through free will, but with someone, figuratively, pointing a gun at their head. It is human nature to survive and to protect yourself – however I think religion often takes advantage of this aspect in people, pointing an ultimatum gun and high jacking human survival instinct to push people to act or think in a particular way. I do not think every religion does this, however I feel that people should be encouraged to explore the incentives behind their belief system, and evaluate whether they are choosing to act a certain way due to choice, or due to fear.

**TL;DR** — **The presence of apocalypticism confirms just this** Apocalypticism is defined as the belief held by religions that an apocalypse is coming which precedes the end of the world. When the apocalypse comes, only the faithful will survive as they will survive the judgment of God. What is perhaps most sinister about any apocalyptic beliefs is [the terror it inspires] (https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/apocalypse/explanation/resilience.html). When the day of judgement comes, God decides who is deserving of salvation as judged by their devotion to God. To that end, the impending apocalypse functions as means to tie people to religion. By convincing them that the end of the world is coming, religions swell their congregation. Likewise, religions with apocalyptic beliefs create [a sense of urgency] (https://www.learnreligions.com/apocalyptic-religions-95773) that drives members of that religion to act in a certain. It could almost be described as a way of controlling people’s behaviour. Apocalyptic world views also serve to develop a very binary understanding of ‘good’ and ‘bad’, and ‘right’ and ‘wrong’. If only the faithful are saved, they are by definition ‘right’ due to their belief in God and their adherence to his teaching. Conversely, religious sceptics and critics are judged to be ‘wrong’ and will suffer as a consequence. Religion is thought to create a sense of community and yet the apocalyptic world view divides believers and non-believers. Accordingly, apocalypticism draws people into religion and directs their behaviour once they are part of the religion.