The Parable of the Stepfather I was talking to my son’s stepfather. We get along fine; there is no enmity or bitterness between us. There is a bit of tension, though. It’s not the tension one normally associates with the ex’s new guy vs. the old guy. It’s religion. Now, we aren’t talking about some fundamentalist extremist here. The guy has a pretty mild version of religion, and it doesn’t come up often. Yeah, that’s enough to cause some tension. I think people often don’t realize how influential religion can be in someone’s life.