Can anyone who is being serious, contemplative, argue that Christ died for the right of people to hate and kill in His name, over exactly how his brilliant creed of love should be ceremonially expressed? How is it that people who grow up ONE BLOCK from one another feel the need to torture and kill one another in the name of their version of Jesus?
This sort of thing causes me to understand the emotional background which seemingly informs the world view of many atheists.
Yes, I get history, and that identities beyond the religious play an important role. I know the British treated the Irish worse, arguably, than we treated the American Indians. As I have recently posted, they enslaved a very large number of them, and killed great many outright. They banned their languages, and put huge barriers on things like land ownership and other rights.
Still, both sides go to church at least weekly and read a document which talks about little but love and forgiveness.