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It鈥檚 rare for Yesterday in Parliament to use the word theology when reviewing parliamentary proceedings but it did this week following Donald Tusk鈥檚 suggestion that there might a special place in hell for those who supported Brexit without having even a sketch of a plan on how to deliver it.

Now I might be the first to end up there myself if I dared to dabble in the political ramifications of the European Council President鈥檚 comment 鈥� though there have been extraordinary cartoons littered across the papers in the past couple of days.

But back to the theology. It would be fair to say that satirists generally reflect the classical artistic idea of Hell. The Penguin Book of Hell describes it as a subterranean realm of eternal suffering; a grim place which 鈥渉as inspired fear and thereby controlled the behaviour of countless human beings for more than 2000 years.鈥�

But, in the books of the Bible there are relatively few direct references to Hell as a place. The focus, rather, is on what is called in Hebrew Sheol or, in Greek, Hades 鈥� both representing a kind of underworld or clearing house to where we descend after death, before a decision is taken as to who goes where.

But in more recent popular Christian thought I have often heard Hell described as the absence of God or, indeed the result of a whole range of behaviours when human beings are left to their own devices. If I was to ask what heaven meant to you, or what your idea of hell might be 鈥� I imagine [and indeed I have] over the years had a huge range of different answers depending on a person鈥檚 situation, health and overall well-being. But quite a lot of people I meet, who don鈥檛 have any church connection, tell me about their belief in a place called heaven and that their loved ones have gone there.

Regardless of our beliefs about what happens when we die, many have a personal view what hell on earth means to them.

Rodin鈥檚 Gates of Hell sculpture in Paris brilliantly characterises Hell鈥檚 relentlessness, the lack of rest, the turmoil, the suffering and complete lack of any final destination at the end of our lives. And as I gazed at Rodin鈥檚 work during a visit just before Christmas. I remembered the words of Milton who wrote: 鈥渢he mind is its own place, and in itself can make a heaven of hell or a hell of heaven.鈥�

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