It has also been alleged on the Internet that the deity the People Of The Book worship is actually the old Semetic war god. That once the Semites worshipped their own pantheon, but the war-god just became the one worshipped the most, and then became their ONLY god.
And when one considers how violent, blood-thirsty, hateful, fear-driven, guilt-driven, judgmental, authoritarian, punishment-loving and death-oriented that trio of religions really is, the allegation has rather solid grounds.

All cultures are war like......

Most of my life, I was brought up on Catholic principals, and not once was I taught to show contempt for anyone who was different, I was always told to treat others as I would like them to treat me. The God I grew up hearing about would never encourage anyone to hate, I mean, doesn't the good book say "Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself"?

I'm not even Christian anymore, but grew up with Christian roots. Gotta agree with you ; I was always taught in church to love the person but hate the sin.

THe issue here is that you were brought up on more progressive viewpoints. There are a lot in both the Catholic and Christian church systems that are very, very extreme fundamentalist and bring people up on very "hate the Different ones" mentalities. I was raised within the hate filled variation, and it chafed to such a degree that I forcibly disconnected from them to get away from it.

This is the reason why I'm not religious. I have to say, that is true story.

Just a clarification. "Two Spirit" does not mean homosexual. Two spirit means possessing both a male and female spirit within you. It means a person posesses both male and female qualities, tendencies, and preferences (both sexual and non-sexual). Most homosexuals (but not all), bisexuals, and transgendered people fall into this description of "two-spirit" which is sometimes appropriated and oversimplified to just mean the Indian word for "gay". It's a much more complex concept.

-Juniper 'Stands Firm'