It really flows from a belief in the Judeo/Christian/Islamic heaven and hell. I doubt anyone believes in purgatory but not those. So it's really just tantamount to asking whether or not a person is Christian (given the KMC audience, since the other 2 are in short supply). Occasionally Christians weren't taught to believe in purgatory, so you'll find a scattering of "heaven/hell but not purgatory" people. But otherwise, that's about all you'll get.
The Catholic church as a skewed version of it, based on centuries of teaching. The Orthodox church has a slightly different teaching on it. The only reason is for the sake of theology. It was never intended as a trapping to get money. It was later used as such, but there is no evidence to show that was the original intent.
No the word does not mean death at all. Catholic translations sometimes use the word death, but that is not it's actual meaning. You'd have to read what the Bible says about it to actually understand exactly what it is.
http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=614&letter=S&search=sheol
As much as I hate sourcing internet sites that is the best I can give off the top of my head.
Originally posted by debbiejo
Mass is money spent to pray them out of there.
That's one of the most ridiculous statements I've ever heard. Mass is not meant to pray for the souls in Purgatory, yes we do mention them sometimes, but the intent of Mass is to worship God and listen to the Gospel. Any money collected at Mass goes to the poor or to finance the maintenance of the church building, not to get souls out of Purgatory.