I just typed out a long, detailed response to this but when I was about to submit it I said "screw it" and erased the whole thing.
It's not gonna help anything.
Let me just end with a simile. Redacted because the simile won't help anything either.
Suffice it to say, people who hate and discriminate suck, but our views on why it is they hate and discriminate differ. I'm not going to try arguing because defending religion in this case is like defending atheism if I claimed it was heavily responsible for suicides, murders and the like due to existential angst/despair. Of course it isn't, I'm making shit up right now. but I could find ways to keep pressing the issue, if I want. I could press that point home forever, and keep finding new points and think up good counterarguments to your counterpoints.
Certain kinds of personalities and mindsets tend to be religious. I mean shit, I'm pulling that statement out of Skeptical Inquirer. And within that range of personalities and mindsets exists the kind of people who are xenophobic, who get their jollies from hating other people from being different and being discriminatory assholes. It's extremely unfortunate, but I get sick and tired of the generalization that because I'm religious I must be some kind of crazy, bigoted asshole. Correlation does not equal causation.
Dammit, there I go again, trying to argue.
Screw it, this conversation is swerving towards the horribly depressing.
I should be out helping and donating to the poor and downtrodden or combating hate somewhere or something and setting a good example instead of arguing stupid pointless shit on the internet. The argument's been going strong since people have been alive, it's just... fruitless and circular.
But lol nope I've been sitting around listening to Lamb of God all morning and thinking about hate and religion. That's so productive ha ha ha