I'm a Christian Universalist in the United Church of Christ (UCC). As Universalists we span the theological and political spectrum from very liberal/liberal to more conservative. I am in the class of Universalists known as restorationists. Restorationists believe that people will spend time in purgatory or a temporary hell to be cleansed of sin and aimlessness before we are reconciled to God. Others are called the "Death and Glory" school because they believe everyone will be instantly reconciled to God at death. I personally hold a unitarian Godhead while my sisters and brothers in Christ may hold a Trinitarian or Binitarian views. We Universalists can be found in all denominations including the Catholic church, liberal and mainline churches like mine, and others can be found in more typical "evangelical" or fundamentalist churches. We believe that a God who we know as Father could never be capable of condemning or allowing his creation to be sent to an infinite place, of infinite suffering, for an infinite time for finite sins against an infinite God.
All Souls, Christian or not, will eventually be reconciled to God in due time according to God's purposes. To us, God is love and God is loving but God will hold people accountable for sin, and punishment is restorative not punitive and everlasting. God is able, and will reconcile the whole creation. Those who are Calvinists or Arminians can be found mostly in more conservative/evangelical or fundy churches. The Calvinists fall in the Reformed Church tradition. The Arminians claim that God should be able to save all souls but is not able to (meaning that humans are more powerful than God). Calvinists, however, believe that God is able to save all souls, but is not wanting to (meaning that God is indifferent and doesn't care for the creation). Both systems (Calvinism and Arminianism) believe in hell, and that the same number are going there but they differ over the method of how that decision is made. Calvinists rely on God's providential election, while the Arminians believe that it is by the person's choice. Both these systems do not proclaim God's success in terms of reconciling the whole human family. Calvinism gives God a 50 percent rate of success while Arminians give God a 90 percent rate of success. If God is unable to reconcile even soul, then God is a failure. God can only be successful if a 100 percent of creation is saved and reconciled.
Do all Christians believe in the concept of "universal salvation" or do you suppose that some people are destined to go to hell from the outset?
Are there any Christian sects or denominations which believe that redemption or salvation is the privilege of only a few, purgatory is for others, and eternal damnation is for the rest of humankind?
Are there any mainstream Christian churches and organisations which advocate calvinism as opposed to the doctrine of "universal salvation"?
I would appreciate a definitive answer from a senior clergy in the Church of Rome or one of the Reformed churches in North America, Europe, and Australia.
