Random theological soundbite:
If you believe that Hell is simply being apart from God’s love, forgiveness, or presence, and not a lake of fire*, then are us atheists who don’t feel the presence of God already in Hell?
Is it not, therefore, something of a catch-22, that since we are given no evidence for the existence of God, we conclude that the concept has glaring logical flaws, and go our merry way?
*If you do, I advise you to peruse a biology text concerning the ability of dead organisms to feel pain. Or, to wax metaphorical, the ability of deleted programs to process data.
I’m not sure; I don’t know enought to answer your question, but I suspect that the view of hell as separation from God’s love is not the same as where atheists find themselves at the moment; for one thing, even though (arguably) atheists reject(without wanting to get into debates about how you can reject something that doesn’t exist) God’s love at the moment, it remains available, furthermore, the possibility of love generally (and some would say that ‘love generally’ and love of God are one and the same) is still possible in this world; it could be argued that hell would be the state of separation from the possibility of love.
Am I going to argue that?
No.
Since none of us is “at one” with God, then in a way we are all in the type of Hell that you are talking about. As to whether atheists are better or worse off would be a judgement call. There is only one judge and as you have already pointed out He isn’t talking. 
possibility is still possible, hmmmm.
Gee whiz, no.
We Catholics view hell as an actual, physical location. I mean, your analogy makes sense in a metaphorical sense, maybe to illustrate what non-believers are missing out on. On the other hand, you’re not dead and haven’t been judged yet (and there seems to be an assumption that, on death, the athiest goes to hell–I wouldn’t argue that), you’re still experiencing God’s love to the extent that while you’re alive, you still have the opportunity to experience redemption.
Ummmmm…so…pretty much what Mangetout said.
Are atheists already in Hell?
No; look at it this way: from a theist’s perspective, all good comes from God-- happiness, love, contentment, etc. Even to experience the beauty of God’s creation is to experience God. As an athiest you may disagree with this. That’s fine.
Being in hell, you will be unable to experience anything such as happiness, love, contentment. Anything good will now be out of reach. Only sadness, hatred and pain will be there.
Or rather, heaven will be like life on earth without the bad times; hell will be like life on earth without the good times.
Just a thought.
Happy
As I understand it, it’s not enough to be cut off from God; one must be aware of one’s separation from God. Since, as an atheist, I feel no more cut off from God than I do from the Easter Bunny, this does not apply, as the OP states. The most convincing portraits of Hell, from Dante to Milton to Dickens, depict the knowledge that one has “missed the bus,” that one knows of and mourns the bliss of the Beatific Vision that has been forever denied the unrepentant sinner.
C. S. Lewis, in The Great Divide, depicts Hell as a shabby, rundown city, where the individuality of the sinners’ personalities are disintegrating. In effect, the bad habits and sins that damned the lost souls in the first place are eating away at them, so that all that remains of a man who wielded self-pity as a weapon is an eternal whine, the original personality having fallen away into ashes.
Apparently, some people seem to think that THIS (earth) is Hell. If this is Hell, then heaven must be especially great.
I Breathe.
I can claim not to believe in Oxygen, but continue to breathe.
When I am cut off from Oxygen, I suffer from asphyxiation.
Eternal Asphyxiation…forever cut off from Oxygen.
Make the same argument with Water, Heat, or God’s Love.
I’m in Montreal, myself.
Later tonight, I’ll be in a bowling alley.
If this be Hell…
It’s been a LONG time since I heard words that sounded more like the place, time and mindset where the blues was born (most likely, the Mississippi Delta, ca. 1910-1920) – it’s pretty much what Lewis would’ve remembered later had he magically awakened during that era in a Clarksdale, MS, hotel room.
I wanna think about this a while.
I once went to a blues festival in Clarksdale and that was about as close to heaven as I’ve ever been. If it was heaven, then they have beer in heaven. 
[sup]And we liberal Methodists (I might be the only one) don’t believe in Hell as a place to go.[/sup]
Are atheists already in Hell?
No, but I spent a couple of years in Indianapolis…
“The Great Divorce” (unless is was given another name in the US?)
The name is apparently a reference to Milton talking about “The Marriage of Heaven and Hell” (which I’ve never read, so I don’t know any more about that)
Same here, kniz – I love Clarksdale – maybe it’s true that one man’s heaven is another man’s hell?
Yeah, right. I use my god-given curiosity and intelligence, along with a rigorous jesuit religious education, to make an honest evaluation of the alternatives and conclude there is no god. Result? Eternal damnation. God’s love? Bah.
If this is hell, gimme more. It ain’t too bad so far.