[quote=@Tank O The Lake]
<Snipped quote by Etcetera>

Hence the existence of Hell and other religious concepts of perdition and divine wrath.  It is another side of the same coin; it invents a consequence that death is preferable to.  I recently took a visit to an Earth in the midst of its own version of the early 21st century; one of the major societal problems of the day was religious radicalization, leading to the rise of terroristic groups that were more than willing to die to impose their doctrine upon the world.  That is not possible for a state that deals solely in death threats.

There must be fear of death, and there must be fear of Hell.  But Hell is meaningless without Heaven, so there must be promise of escape from suffering, if the man acts according to what is demanded of him.
[/quote]

Perhaps so! But the true disadvantage of any afterlife promise is that it can't be seen, and the consequences are distant. So we need a different solution.