"In any event, motivating through wielding the stick of hell, in order to inspire fear, to coerce changes in belief and behavior, is simply ineffectual in the present age."
Bit of a contradiction, here, isn't there?
On the one hand, you rightly point out hell simply is discussed or considered anymore. On the other hand, you state 'the stick of hell' is 'ineffectual' in this present age.
How can we know if its ineffectual if, as you point out, it is never really tried?
Ya, one option is for the Catholic Church scholars to churn out books about hell (is the place still hot?), and see how it pans out.
"When I was in law school, back before rocks cooled, a friend of mine went to the University of Michigan library (3 million books then), and searched in the catalog for books that discussed hell and what it was like. The most recent book on the subject was published in 1909."
The UM library would not be a bastion of broad information. Its book purchases would have been informed by the likes of the NYT.
Sort of reminds me of the fact that through the 80's James Dobson was the largest selling author in the US but not tracked by the libreral book charts becasue of the evangelical content.