What are the origins of heaven and hell?

A:

The earliest known religion to teach of hell as a place of punishment is the Zoroastrian religion of the Persians who liberated the Jews in Babylon.

Judaism adopted concepts that parallelled Zoroastrian thought of heaven as a place of reward and hell as a place of punishment, but fairly soon afterwards began to drop the notion of hell, as it was inconsistent with Jewish thought. However, hell found its way into Christianity and subsequently into Islam.

Catholic AnswerHell originated in the sin of Lucifer, the highest, most beautiful, and most powerful angel, who refused to love and serve God. By putting himself before God, he created that void which is as far as you can get from God's love.