I also refuse to believe that an all powerful, merciful, loving creator of the universe would create all of this world and all of these people just to torture them for the rest of eternity. The whole idea of a god creating a people and punishing them FOR ALL OF ETERNITY if they don't believe in him even though all he gives them to go on is stories written down thousands of years ago and passed on through word of mouth and, again, the stories aren't even a little based in any kind of reality their familiar with is just ludicrous. That kind of personality describes an arrogant, narcissistic 10 year old. Not a loving, merciful god.
I fully believe in a higher power, I just don't know what it is exactly. I certainly don't believe in what most religions describe as god. And I certainly don't believe in hell.