1) Fear does certainly have a place in our lives, of course. Authentic fear in the face of threat, like of The Bear or the quieter more intuitive fear of an individual of situation, spurs us to take correct action and so survive. The fear built into christianity is not authentic fear -- it's the anxiety of possible repercussions that may or may not happen down the road. I don't think anxiety is necessary to make wise decisions.
2) Judgement: you are talking about two different judgements. There is the judgement society places on the accused: Is he guilty, or is he not guilty? according to laws made by (and generally agreed to by) people. That's a judgement I feel people are qualified to make. "Did he do it, or not?" I'm perfectly fine with punishments being meted out to murderers or doers of bad deeds.
But then there's the christian god/santa claus judgement: Are you Good, or are you Bad? Lots (not all) of folks who believe in the christian god feel qualified to pass such judgements themselves. If it were a question of, "Is this person good to have in my life, or not?" well, that seems like a good question to make a decision out of. But a human deciding that another human is Bad because his god says so (or for whatever reason) kills off all possibility otherwise for the judged and for the judge. Actually, I think the same is true even if the judgement is "Good." I don't that a person is either Bad or Good, so that kind of judgement makes no sense to me.
Since I believe there is no god, it's a moot point to me that any god would judge us. Since I believe in people, I believe there are more desirable ways to live than in killing off possibility for others, or in others killing off possibility in me.  |