i too do not believe in either heaven or hell and agree with most of what raging revenge and dark-female said. it seems that there is a yearning to explain what we can't explain and we have created stories up to fit what life we want to lead. this in itself is alright, and as long as you are not hurting anyone else, so be it. but then again, i'm probably not the best one to be answering a question of belief since there is very very little i do BELIEVE in. although there is a lot that i ponder at, acknowledge etc. i don't have any belief system or base that i stand by, i know what i don't believe in, that being heaven and hell. i think this is one of the reasons it frustrates me when people tell me that they KNOW that [insert belief here ie. heaven] exists. how can they KNOW? my religious studies teacher told us not so long ago that she respected that we didn't all share her beliefs, and then she turned around and said, but she knew in her heart god and heaven was what she would go to when she died. this, to her was final and true. i thought that contradicted her respect for our own beliefs entirely.

it seems too tidy though that so many people believe in heaven/hell. is it because they are too lazy to think of their own more interesting and imaginative concepts or they have a mentality that if so many people past and present believe this it MUST be true, or does this itself 'confirm' the existence of such states?

here's a quote that seems quite fitting then:
‘there are just some things that don’t seem very fair in the world, like the fucking hypocrisy of organised religion. i just don’t understand how people can blindly believe a bunch of shit they’re fed, to believe it so that they don’t think too hard about other issues. ‘be a good boy and you’ll go to heaven’. if it works for you, fine, but it doesn’t work for me and that pisses me off because i kind of wish it did.’ -reznor