I think I was lucky in that my parents were not a united religious front. This allowed for a large crack in the religious view presented to me. I will say this - I tried to write this post from the perspective of my younger self. I was pretty devastated and angry at the time. But thinking about it later, I can see how much more devastated my father was. Since he truly believed this stuff, my rejection of God would send me to Hell. His only son would suffer eternal damnation - which is horrible. But also it would mean that he failed as a parent in doing so.

With a son of my own now, I can understand the feeling, if not the belief system behind it.