Hi Richcroc,
There's definitely nothing to worry about.
You are certainly not damned because you have decided to be free and take control of your life. Free Will is a wonderful and beautiful gift and it applies to all life throughout the entire Universe. It permeates everything. You cannot escape Free Will. Even those who are bound and enslaved by belief systems are in all actuality - free. They chose by their own Free Will to be bound by a belief system. You will never be judged by anyone or anything from anywhere throughout the entire Universe in the choices you make no matter how good or bad they are perceived. The only ones who will judge you are those who are bound by beliefs and are controlled by the ego.
I have been in your situation few times, and although I don't fully know your situation, normally a person of a very strong belief system will try to convert another to their beliefs because they feel it is their duty to do so, and by not doing so is normally seen as a lack of service and would be considered a "sin" and looked down upon by a higher power. There's certainly nothing wrong or judgemental in their beliefs and the path they choose, but whenever a person tries to impose or force a belief system upon you it is appropriate in most cases to acknowledge what they are saying and to politely say to them how you honor and respect the path they have chosen and the beliefs they have chosen to believe, and would appreciate that they do the same in return. I have also noticed that sometimes it is better not to question their beliefs because it could hurt their ego and possibly cause a backlash. I am also aware of how persistent a person can be when trying to fulfill their duty to convert and can in some cases turn into a heated debate, so if a situation like that were to ever arise it is again better to just let them say what is on their mind without debating their beliefs until they eventually give up.
On the other hand, if they ask you questions about your beliefs then by all means gladly tell them all that you know, because you never know what information you have that might be valuable to them, but normally a person of very strong beliefs is only asking questions to serve their own agenda to add to a debate.
I think it's great that you decided to firmly stay on your own path regardless of how you were persuaded to do otherwise. It's never wise to adopt another person's belief if it does not feel right with you. And actually, being bound to any belief is detrimental to spiritual development and progress. The ability to abandon any and all beliefs is crucial to achieving enlightenment.
I also think that it's great you chose not to eat animals because of your love for all life. All life are equal aspects of Source, God. None are any more or less special than humans. It's also the main reason I decided to become a raw vegan - the 2nd reason being health. For myself, I could no longer contribute to the pain, suffering, and slaughtering of other life to satisfy the demands of my ego to eat for the sake of pleasurable taste. I can remember growing up as a child in Christian churches how they taught that animals have no soul, and that their only reason for being here on Earth was to serve us and be our food. It was believed that it was our Christian duty to live off the animals that were given to us by "God", which is why hunting is such a big activity here where I live. Of course I wouldn't really call it hunting, hehe.
The hunters domesticate the deer at their hunting camps by feeding the deer all year long by hand, and then when it comes time for hunting season all they have to do is point the gun and shoot as the deer come for their usual feeding-by-the hand time.
Anyway, again there's definitely nothing to worry about by making the decision to take control of your own life the way you choose to experience it and not how someone else says you should. Any other way would be spiritually counter productive.
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