My father was a preacher

We have that in common.

but he never forced me to believe.

Well one out of two out bad.

I tried to stick to what I was taught as a child. It wasn't my natural way to rail against it. I had to be pushed severely. And believe me I was. I wish it wasn't the case, as I know there are many good Christians. And I knew some who qualified. Unfortunately I knew far more that didn't. My attitude and defiance became moulded to a degree by these types and their actions. And these aren't the sort of actions I would describe specifically.

So yes, it is a shame. It's the more rigid fundamentalism that I know of personally. I think there have been beautiful truths that have revealed themselves through religious scholars. It's the dogmatism around that truth that corrupts it. Perhaps that's a human folly at work.