"A married Navy veteran with five children, Holtz spent years trying to reconcile his belief that Jesus Christ's death on the cross redeemed the entire world with the idea that millions of people — including millions who had never even heard of Jesus — were suffering forever in hell."
In high school, I went through a similar dilemma. It didn't make any sense that someone born a thousand years before JC would be condemned, nor did it make sense that some Buddhist monk who lived a peaceful, good life would be condemned to torture.
I can see where church leaders would be upset though. Hell is a very powerful tool; threaten people with it and you can scare them into converting. Without hell and eternal punishment, what purpose is there for accepting JC as your savior? With no hell, no torture, there is nothing that he needs to save you from.
"Church members had also been unhappy with Internet posts about subjects like gay marriage and the mix of religion and patriotism, Holtz said, and the hell post was probably the last straw. "
Sounds like it was more than just his beliefs about hell that got him fired. Questioning church doctrine was probably the thing they needed to give him the boot.