In over my head?

My son came home from church on Sunday and announced he is getting baptized this week. Since I am not religious, Scooter attends church with my mother. He enjoys it a lot, and I think he is enriched by it. Religious education is not a waste. I love learning about religions even though I don't practice one, so I don't mind Scooter getting some righteous training too, even if it is Baptist. In addition to this, he enjoys participating in the youth choir and the occasional play, and that is something he doesn't get in our small, rural school.

My only concern is his motivation. I asked him why he decided this week that he needed to be baptized. Was it something they discussed in Sunday School? No. Was it something the preacher talked about? No. He said it was because he was afraid of going to hell.

So now I'm not sure what to do. I am wide open to a million different religious paths for him, but I want him to make them out of a feeling of choice and not pressure. I want his experience to be one of honest joy, not fear of retribution. And while I respect Mom and agreed to let him attend church with her, I am his mother. I'm just not sure what to do about it.

Perhaps just another simple chat about it will clear it up and make me feel more assured he's making the choice for the right reasons. The last thing I want to do is to undermine his personal, spiritual choices, but I don't ever want him to do anything because he's afraid of some kind of almighty rejection, be it from God or man. I've made choices like that, and it is not the way to go.