This is a short section in which Keller explains why belief in Hell does not make Christians more likely to be bigoted or judgmental. The concern is that if someone believes some people are going to heaven while others are destined for hell that the believer will think those bound for hell are less worthy of respect or civil rights, and should be treated differently. Keller’s defense is that Christians don’t know who is going to go to heaven or hell, and so they cannot (or at least should not) treat anyone as if their final resting place is known.
About half of this section is spent relating and defending against the accusation that belief that some people are going to hell is “narrow” thinking. This whole issue is irrelevant, so I will ignore it, except to say that Keller’s right that thinking someone will go to hell is not itself “narrow”. In my opinion, it is the certainty of ones belief’s over another’s despite any evidence that is “narrow”.
The more central issue of Christian’s denying civil rights to those who will go to hell should not be a problem. I agree w/ Keller that the rules of heaven and hell as laid out by himself, and my interpretation of the bible, do not allow for any human to predetermine the direction of another human’s afterlife. At least in normal circumstances. (I am unclear about specialized hypothetical situations, like in the case of killing someone immediately after they sin, or receive absolution.) And even if a Christian did know for certain that a person was going to go to hell, the Christian tradition does not allow them to treat such a person poorly.
That’s all how things should be. I doubt very much they work that way very often. I cannot claim, however, that belief in heaven and hell causes bigoted behavior. It seems just as likely that one would take already existing bigoted ideas and cast the villains as going to hell. Religious people treat peoples not of their religion differently than their in-group, but this can be explained simply as group dynamics, and doesn’t necessitate a dual afterlife belief system.
Really, if you think about it, someone who believes in heaven should be much nicer to someone they believe is going to hell. They’ll have all eternity to hang out with the others going to heaven, they should get to know the other half (or 99.9%) while they still can. And any joy you bring such a soul will be some of the only joy it ever knows amongst and endless sea of sorrows, whereas any good you do to someone going to heaven will be inconsequential compared to the gifts of heaven.
Sarcastic Side Note: Maybe we could cut health care costs by only treating those who are going to go to hell. We’d be doing the ones going to heaven a favor by letting them die.