Universalism

Derived from the Greek word apocatastasis, which means 'complete salvation'.

1. A concept in Judaism that God created the entire universe as a single entity, that all people were created for a common moral purpose, and that God chose the Jews to convey a moral message to all humanity so that the redemption available to all people through God might occur.

2. A Christian belief that everyone would eventually reach heaven after death. It was promoted in the 2nd and early 3rd centuries of the Christian church by Clement and Origen. Traditional Christianity has taught that universalism is a heresy. They believe that heaven is reserved for a small minority of people, and that the vast majority will go to Hell to be tortured for all eternity without mercy. Many Christian individuals and denominations are drifting towards Universalism because an eternity in Hell seem to many people to be incompatible with a loving, just deity.