Comment 15 by Dave H : I don't spend a lot of time railing against religion, because I feel like defining my own projects instead of letting my enemies define my projects for me, and I've got better things to do. But thanks to their putting a damper on my childhood with the concept of hell, I'll now cheerfully cut religion to pieces whenever and wherever it crosses my path.

I think this is important. "They" may have done unforgivable things to you (the OP) as a child -- indoctrination or whatever -- but you would be wasting your time and energy by indulging in unnecessary emotion. Falling into bitterness or anger means they continue to have a hold over you and continue to mess up your life. If there is anger, keep it in reserve, and use it to give you determination to go beyond the problem. Put your energy into something productive. From my perspective that means clearing out the 'damage', so that it no longer affects me and I am free of it. For some people, focussing on other positive activities works (although this never worked for me).

The core of it is getting a hold of your unconscious and making it work for you instead of getting in your way or working for your childhood religious teachers. At the end of the day it all boils down to the same thing -- unwanted unconscious reactions that need examining, understanding, dismantling and eliminating.

Whether Catholic hell exists or not, I don't know. Whether you've been indoctrinated to react in a way that suits the Church and works against your own interests -- that's 100% certain. I, fortunately or unfortunately, am unable to live with that kind of knowledge without trying to do something about it. I'm not going to be anyone's slave. Even if everything they said were true, I'm still not going to be their slave.