Re: I used to be nice to christians, not any more
It's always been about the "squeaky wheel" - especially when that squeaky wheel is able to go about making itself heard through violence and intimidation which seems to be common in the US and becoming so over here.
I was brought up a Christian, and describe myself as agnostic. It's a bit embarrassing to be associated with the "bible bashers" who have little understanding of what's in it beyond the "fire and brimstone" rhetoric they hear in Church - but who then go on to try and impose their views on others through ignorance and intolerance.
Sure, there are bits of the bible that can be taken (out of context) to support that, but mostly (especially in the new testament) it's about tolerance and understanding.
Much the same with Islam. I'm sure many of us see Islam as something that promotes violence - hence all the terrorists. But in reality, from what little I know of it, such views are also from taking little bits out of context, ignoring everything else, and then misrepresenting those little bits as supporting violence. Christians aren't really in too much of a position to criticise - after all, we had the crusades which were pretty much the same thing back in their day.
And now, for some reason, I have memories of seeing the late Rev Ian Paisley doing his "you're all going to hell" ranting on the TV news. Ah, now I look him up (I was a bit young when all this was going on to understand) I see he epitomises all that's wrong with some elements of religion - intolerance towards others, "fire and brimstone" talk, actively obstructing peace efforts, and it could be argued complicit in many deaths by contributing to the start of "the troubles" and obstructing efforts to end them.
But to all those who think this is representative of religion (any religion), it isn't. It's a bit like how we see a small subset of MPs misbehaving and assume that's representative of all MPs. There's something like 650 MPs, the majority of whom get on with the job quietly and without commotion. We only hear of the squeaky wheels - because "people getting on with doing their jobs" doesn't make the news.