Certainly I don't want to downplay Spong's potential influence in publishing this book, but I think many if not most progressive churches have already moved or are in the process of moving away from "atonement," "original sin," and at least the most common understandings of "hell" (if not discounting or downplaying the importance of "afterlife" as a concept in general). I guess the hope here is that such ideas will become more predominant among more liberal/moderate mainline churches.