FOXNews reported that a United Methodist Church pastor in North Carolina was recently removed from his position because he posted to Facebook that he supported the view of hell described in Rob Bell’s new controversial book, Love Wins. Pastor Chad Holtz said he was “shocked” by the decision to fire him, because the post was intended to engage his congregation in discussion, but it ended up angering them. Holtz said congregants complained he wasn’t representing their views. Bell’s book describes the traditional view of hell as a place of eternal torment “misguided and toxic,” and Holtz’s Facebook post detailed his personal journey toward “losing the idea of hell.” Holtz called the congregation “good decent people … who are simply feeling a little threatened by a pastor who is asking questions they don’t want to ask right now.” He admitted that he’d posted other notes on subjects such as gay marriage that had troubled the congregation before, but this recent one seemed to be “the last straw.”

Was it right for this pastor to lose his job due to his views on hell?