Does God Have to Torture His Son In Order to Forgive?

Bart Erhman in his blog asks the question: What kind of God has to torture his son in order to forgive others? He writes:

The idea that God had to subject his son to humiliation and pain by having him tortured to death for the sake of others – what kind of barbarian idea is that?   What would anyone today think if I told you that in order for me to forgive you for something you had done against me (say, lied about me; spread malicious gossip about me; stolen from me; physically abused me), in order for me to make things right between us, I had to have my son maliciously tortured and bloodily murdered?  *Then* I could forgive you.  You would think I was literally nuts. The idea that God required a bloody sacrifice of an innocent man in order to forgive others is deeply disturbing to me, now.

As a teen trying to embrace the Christian faith, I was always repulsed by the orthodox doctrine of the Crucifixion and this disgust made it difficult for me to be happy like the other "born agains" at my church. It's taken years for me to see the barbaric qualities of much that passes for orthodox faith.